Vega Rocket Launches Earth-Watching PRISMA Satellite for Italy

A European Vega rocket carried a new Earth-observation satellite into orbit for the Italian Space Agency late Thursday (March 21), lighting up the nighttime sky over its French Guiana launch site. The PRISMA Earth observation satellite lifted off at 9:50 p.m. EDT (0150 March 22 GMT) from the South America's Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. The satellite will operate in a sun-synchronous orbit, meaning that it circles the Earth in such a way that the sun is always in the same position as the satellite takes pictures of the planet below. More

(Source: Space.com - Mar 22)