Watch the Launch

Additional Media

Arianespace Flight VS25 - CSO-2 (EN)

For its 10th and final launch of the year — and the fifth in 2020 with the Soyuz medium launcher — Arianespace will send the CSO-2 Earth observation satellit...

Soyuz Flight VS25

For its 10th and final launch of the year — and the fifth in 2020 with the Soyuz medium launcher — Arianespace will send the CSO-2 Earth observation satellite, intended for defense and security applications, into Sun-synchronous orbit. CSO-2 will be launched for the French CNES (Centre National d’E...

CSO-2

Overview

Destination: Sun-Synchronous Orbit
Mission: Government/Top Secret

Sun-Synchronous Orbit Soyuz Launch Complex Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

The CSO-2 (Composante Spatiale Optique-2) satellite is the second of three new-generation high-resolution optical imaging satellites for the French military, replacing the Helios 2 spy satellite series.

Updates

spacevogel • Dec. 29, 2020, 6:03 p.m.

Launched called success on webcast, Arianespace CEO and head of Roscosmos both tweeted that sat is in planned orbit


spacevogel • Dec. 29, 2020, 4:42 p.m.

Liftoff


Nosu • Dec. 28, 2020, 1:04 p.m.




Soyuz STA

Family:
Configuration: Fregat

The 2.1a version includes conversion from analog to digital flight control system and uprated engines on the booster and the first stage with improved injection systems. The new digital flight control and telemetry systems allow the rocket to launch from a fixed rather than angled launch platform and adjust its heading in flight. A digital control system also enables the launch of larger commercial satellites with wider and longer payload fairings such as the ST-type fairing. These fairings introduce too much aerodynamic instability for the old analog system to handle. This stage continues to use the RD-0110 engine. The 2.1a/ST version is sometimes called Soyuz ST-A.

Specifications
  • Stages
    3
  • Length
    46.3 m
  • Diameter
    2.95 m
  • Fairing Diameter
  • Launch Mass
    312.0 T
  • Thrust
Family
  • Name
    Soyuz STA
  • Family
  • Variant
    Fregat
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Soyuz STA Fregat
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
    7020.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
    2810.0 kg
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity
    4230.0 kg

Progress Rocket Space Center

Progress Rocket Space Center

(PRSC)

CEO: Dmitry Baranov Founded: 1996 Successes: 44 Failures: 1 Pending: 0

Agency Type:

Progress Rocket Space Centre, formerly known as TsSKB-Progress, is a space science and aerospace research company which is known for manufacturing launch vehicles and satellites. Most notably, Progress Rocket Space Centre is the manufacturer of Soyuz launch vehicles.

INFO WIKI

Related News

Spaceflight Now

Photos: Soyuz launches French military satellite

Check out imagery from Arianespace and the French space agency showing the launch of a Russian Soyuz rocket Dec. 29 from the Guiana Space Center in South America.

Spaceflight Now

French military surveillance satellite launched by Soyuz rocket

An optical reconnaissance satellite for the French military took off atop a Soyuz launcher Tuesday, riding the Russian-made rocket from a tropical spaceport in South America into a 300-mile-high polar orbit to begin a 10-year mission surve…

SpaceNews

Soyuz launches French reconnaissance satellite in final 2020 launch

A Soyuz rocket successfully launched a French reconnaissance satellite Dec. 29 in what is likely the final launch of an active 2020 in spaceflight.

NASA Spaceflight

Arianespace, with Russian Soyuz, launches CSO-2 French military satellite

The 114th and final orbital launch of 2020 saw a Soyuz ST-A rocket loft the CSO-2 Earth observation satellite for the French Ministry of Defence.

Spaceflight Now

French military spysat set for launch Monday

A sharp-eyed French military surveillance spacecraft is set for launch aboard a Soyuz rocket Monday from French Guiana into a 300-mile-high orbit, where it will collect the highest-resolution imagery ever produced by a European reconnaissa…

Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Soyuz Launch Complex


Falcon 9
Success
14 hours, 43 minutes ago
Starlink Group 12-18
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 21 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Long March 8A
Success
1 day ago
SatNet LEO Group 02 (Demo Flight)
201 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

Demonstration flight of the Long March 8A rocket with upgraded first stage and boosters engines, and a new larger liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen secon…


Falcon 9
Success
1 day, 7 hours ago
Starlink Group 11-10
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Electron
Success
3 days, 12 hours ago
IoT 4 You and Me (Kinéis 16-20)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1A - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Fourth batch of five satellites for the French Kinéis IoT constellation designed to operate with 25 nanosatellites of 30 kg each.


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 14 hours ago
Starlink Group 12-9
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 21 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Soyuz 2.1v
Success
1 week ago
Kosmos 2581/2582/2583
43/4 (43R) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Unidentified classified satellites for the Russian military.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week ago
WorldView Legion 5 & 6
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

WorldView Legion is a constellation of Earth observation satellites built and operated by Maxar. Constellation is planned to consist of 6 satellites …


New Shepard
Success
1 week ago
NS-29
West Texas Suborbital Launch Site/ Corn Ranch - Corn Ranch, Van Horn, TX, USA

NS-29 will simulate the Moon’s gravity and fly 30 payloads, all but one of which is focused on testing lunar-related technologies. The payloads wi…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week ago
Starlink Group 12-3
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 21 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


H3-22
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
Michibiki 6 (QZS-6)
Yoshinobu Launch Complex LP-2 - Tanegashima Space Center, Japan

QZSS (Quasi Zenith Satellite System) is a Japanese satellite navigation system operating from inclined, elliptical geosynchronous orbits to achieve o…