Watch Europe’s Vega C rocket launch an advanced Korean Earth-observation satellite to orbit today

A European rocket will launch a powerful Earth-observation satellite to orbit today (Dec. 1), and you can watch the action live.

South Korea’s KOMPSAT-7 spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana atop a Vega C rocket today at 12:21 p.m. EST (1721 GMT; 2:21 p.m. Kourou time).

The French company Arianespace, which operates the Vega C, will stream the launch live. Space.com will carry Arianespace’s feed, if (as expected) it’s made available.

Flight VV28 | KOMPSAT-7 | Vega C | Arianespace – YouTube

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The 3,990-pound (1,810-kilogram) KOMPSAT-7 was built by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute. It’s the successor to KOMPSAT-3A, which launched to Earth orbit in March 2015.

The new satellite will be “one of the world’s most advanced ultra-high-resolution optical satellites,” according to Arianespace’s press kit, which you can find here.

“It is designed to support detailed observation of the Korean Peninsula and to meet the growing national demand for high-quality satellite imagery,” the press kit adds.

KOMPSAT-7 also features “optical data transmission technology — a first for a Korean satellite — to enable real-time processing of large-volume Earth-observation imagery via electro-optical modules and onboard storage/processing systems,” Arianespace wrote.

Today’s mission, which Arianespace calls VV28, will be the sixth for the four-stage, 115-foot-tall (35-meter-tall) Vega C, which was developed by the European Space Agency.

Four of the medium-lift rocket’s five launches to date have been successful. The lone failure occurred on the Vega C’s second mission, which lifted off in December 2022.

If all goes to plan today, the rocket will deploy KOMPSAT-7 about 44 minutes after liftoff, in a sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) 358 miles (576 kilometers) above Earth.

Spacecraft in SSOs circle Earth’s poles and pass over the same patch of the planet at the same solar time each day. This ensures consistent lighting conditions at each of those spots, making SSOs popular destinations for Earth-observing missions.