the follow-up mission Sentinel-2A and -2B, will be launched soon. From an altitude of 786 km, the ‘C’ satellite will provide continuous imaging in 13 spectral bands, per the European Space Agency.

This time, all went according to plan, and the payload, Sentinel-1C, a radar satellite for ESA's Copernicus program, was placed into a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) at an altitude of 700 km.

Japan’s H-2A rocket is set for its second-to-last mission on Thursday, Sept. 26, launching a secret spy satellite named IGS-Radar 8 from Tanegashima Space Center at 1:24 a.m. EDT (0524 GMT ...