On its ninth and last mission of the year, Arianespace orbited innovative satellites that address
the need for autonomy and reliable access to space by Italy, the European Space Agency (ESA)
and the French space agency CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales). It also served the
ambitions of two young innovative companies: Tyvak and Hemeria.
COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation, the main payload on the mission, CHEOPS (Characterizing
Exoplanet Satellite), and three auxiliary payloads, ANGELS, EyeSat and OPS-SAT, were
successfully placed in orbit.
The launch took place on Wednesday, December 18, 2019 at 5:54 am (local time) from the Guiana
Space Center (CSG) in Kourou, French Guiana (South America).
With this successful 23rd launch of the Soyuz medium-lift launcher from CSG, Arianespace has
now launched a total of 159 satellites for European institutions, once again demonstrating the
flexibility of its launcher family, comprising Ariane, Soyuz and Vega.