Belgium launches a satellite

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The launch of three satellites, including the Belgian satellite Proba-V, has been successfully completed from the Kourou Space Centre in French Guyana. Arianespace reports that a Vega rocket carrying the three satellites was launched from Kourou at 4:06h CET on Tuesday morning.

A couple of hours later, the Belgian Proba-V satellite was released into orbit. Proba-V was built for the European Space Agency (ESA) by QinetiQ Space in Kruibeke (East Flanders).

The satellite will be managed from a control centre in Redu (Luxemburg province). For the next two and a half years at the least, it will provide geographical data on the lack or the abundance of plants in certain areas.

The launch had been planned for Saturday 4 May, but was called off 30 minutes before take-off due to high winds