FLEX and Sentinel-3C launched
The European Space Agency’s FLEX Earth Explorer satellite and the Copernicus Sentinel-3C satellite launched together aboard a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, a milestone for Europe’s Earth Observation Programmes. Flight VV30 lifted off on 15 September 2026 at 03:21 (14 September at 22:21 local time).
A launch adapter called Vespa allowed both satellites to be stacked inside the Vega-C fairing. Sentinel-3C was positioned on top of Vespa and injected into orbit first, followed by FLEX about one hour later. After the separate deployments, ESA’s European Space Operations Centre in Germany received the first signal from each satellite, confirming both had been safely released and had established contact with ground control.
Mission controllers will now spend the coming days in the launch and early orbit phase, checking and verifying the health and performance of both satellites and confirming all systems are functioning as expected. ESA Director of Earth Observation Programmes Simonetta Cheli called the launch the culmination of years of scientific innovation, engineering excellence and international cooperation, and noted that preparing and launching two satellites together is no easy task. She thanked the many experts who contributed to both satellites’ development, testing and launch preparation and worked to ensure they reached orbit safely.
FLEX, developed within ESA’s FutureEO programme, is a research mission to advance understanding of plant health and the role of photosynthesis in the carbon and water cycles. It is ESA’s first satellite designed specifically to measure photosynthetic activity from space, using a Fluorescence Imaging Spectrometer to detect the extremely faint fluorescence emitted by plants as they absorb sunlight during photosynthesis. This signal, invisible to the human eye, directly indicates how efficiently vegetation converts sunlight and carbon dioxide into energy, and FLEX measurements will help assess plant health, ecosystem productivity, and the effects of environmental stress and climate change.
Sentinel-3C is the third satellite in the Sentinel-3 series and will continue the long-term collection of essential environmental data, systematically measuring Earth’s oceans, land, ice and atmosphere to support Europe’s Copernicus Services. Its suite of instruments will systematically observe the oceans, land, ice and atmosphere, measuring parameters including those essential for environmental monitoring.