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Propulsion & Power

FLEX receives 30kg propellant ahead of Vega-C launch

By SpaceEnergy 20 August 2026 1 min read
FLEX receives 30kg propellant ahead of Vega-C launch
Fuelling FLEX. Photo: ESA-CNES-AVIO/Optique vidéo du CSG–S. Martin

(SpaceEnergy) The European Space Agency’s FLEX Earth-observation satellite has been loaded with 30kg of propellant at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana ahead of its planned September launch.

ESA said the highly volatile fuel will support spacecraft manoeuvres after separation from its Vega-C launcher and throughout FLEX’s planned minimum 3.5-year mission. The agency did not identify the propellant chemistry in its announcement.

FLEX, short for Fluorescence Explorer, is scheduled to launch on 15 September at 03:21 CEST, corresponding to 22:21 local time on 14 September, together with the Copernicus Sentinel-3C satellite.

The latest fuelling milestone follows FLEX’s arrival in French Guiana in July. ESA Launch Campaign Manager Frank de Bruin said the fuelling operation was completed as planned and that the satellite is now fully loaded. The next steps are installation on its launcher adapter and encapsulation in the lower position of the Vega-C fairing.

Once in orbit, FLEX will fly initially in tandem with Sentinel-3A while using its Fluorescence Imaging Spectrometer to map vegetation fluorescence globally.

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