Italian radar satellite, European exoplanet telescope to launch on Soyuz next year

The Italian government has decided to launch two next-generation radar reconnaissance satellites on Soyuz and Vega rockets from French Guiana, and a European Space Agency telescope to study the structures of planets around other stars will likely ride to orbit as a co-passenger on one of the missions. The Italian Space Agency, or ASI, considered launching the first of the two second-generation Cosmo-SkyMed surveillance satellites on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, but officials ultimately elected to book the launch on a Europeanized version of Russia’s Soyuz rocket next year, ASI announced this week. More

(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 11)