Airbus has selected Avio’s Vega C rocket to launch its first Pléiades Neo Next Earth-observation satellite from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, in early 2028. This marks the beginning of the new Pléiades Neo Next programme, which builds on the success of the existing Pléiades Neo constellation by advancing Airbus’s geospatial imaging capabilities, including enhanced native resolution and improved service responsiveness for a wide range of applications such as defence, environment monitoring, agriculture, disaster response, mapping, and urban planning. The Vega C launch contract underlines Airbus’s commitment to reinforcing Europe’s independent access to space while expanding the performance and capacity of its Earth-observation fleet. healthcare technology company