The Mohammed VI satellites are a series of two Moroccan Earth observation and reconnaissance satellites, namely Mohammed VI-A and Mohammed VI-B, developed and built by Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space based upon the Astrosat-1000 satellite bus. They are Morocco's first optical imaging satellites, and are operated by Morocco's Ministry of Defense, with an expected service life of 5 years.[4] They are named after Mohammed VI, the King of Morocco.[5]
| Mission type | Earth observation and reconnaissance |
|---|---|
| Operator | Government of Morocco |
| COSPAR ID | 2017-070A (A) 2018-095A (B) |
| SATCAT no. | 43005 (A)[1] 43717 (B)[2] |
| Mission duration | 5 years (planned) 4 years, 9 months, 25 days (elapsed; A) 3 years, 9 months, 12 days (elapsed; B) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Mohammed VI-A Mohammed VI-B |
| Spacecraft type | Observation satellite |
| Bus | Astrosat-1000 |
| Manufacturer | Airbus Defence and Space Thales Alenia Space[3] |
| Launch mass | 1,110 kg (2,450 lb) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | November 8, 2017 (2017-11-08) (A) November 21, 2018 (2018-11-21) (B) |
| Rocket | Vega |
| Launch site | Guiana Space Centre ELA-1 |
| Contractor | Arianespace |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Semi-major axis | 7,106 km (4,415 mi) (A)[1] 7,106 km (4,415 mi) (B)[2] |
| Periapsis altitude | 644.8 km (400.7 mi) (A) 644.6 km (400.5 mi) (B) |
| Apoapsis altitude | 646.5 km (401.7 mi) (A) 646.7 km (401.8 mi) (B) |
| Inclination | 97.9° |
| Period | 97.5 minutes |
Mohammed VI | |
Both satellites are based on the Astrosat-1000 satellite bus.[5] They have a launch mass of 1,110 kg (2,450 lb) and have three deployable solar arrays, and an expected service life of around 5 years.[6]
The satellites have four hydrazine thrusters for reboosting its orbit and keeping its altitude.[6]
The Mohammed VI-A satellite, Morocco's first spy satellite, was launched on Vega flight VV11 on board the Vega launcher from Guiana Space Centre ELA-1, French Guiana, on November 8, 2017. It was launched to low Earth Sun-synchronous orbit with an inclination of 97.9°.[1][4]
The Mohammed VI-B satellite, Morocco's second spy satellite, was launched a year later on Vega flight VV14 from Guiana Space Centre ELA-1, French Guiana, on November 28, 2018. It was launched to Low Earth Sun-synchronous orbit with an inclination of 97.9°.[2][5]
← 2016 · Orbital launches in 2017 · 2018 → | |
|---|---|
| January | TJS-2 – Lingqiao / Jilin-1 03 · Caton-1 · Xingyun Shiyan 1 – Iridium NEXT 1–10 – TRICOM-1 – USA-273 / SBIRS GEO-3 – DSN-2 – Hispasat AG1 |
| February | Intelsat 32e / SkyBrasil1 · Telkom-3S – Cartosat-2D · INS-1A, 1B · Flock-3p × 88 · Lemur-2 × 8 · Al Farabi-1 · BGUSAT · DIDO-2 · Nayif 1 · PEASS – Dragon CRS-10 – Progress MS-05 |
| March | USA-274 / NROL-79 / Intruder 8 – Tiankun-1 – Sentinel-2B – EchoStar 23 – IGS-Radar 5 – USA-275 / WGS-9 – SES-10 |
| April | Shijian 13 – Cygnus CRS OA-7 · (ALTAIR · CXBN-2 · IceCube · SG-Sat · SHARC) – Soyuz MS-04 – Tianzhou 1 · SilkRoad-1 |
| May | USA-276 / NROL-76 – Koreasat 7 · SGDC-1 – GSAT 9 / South Asia Satellite – Inmarsat-5 F4 – SES-15 – "It's a Test" – EKS-2 |
| June | QZS-2 – ViaSat-2 · Eutelsat 172B – Dragon CRS-11 · NICER · Birds-1 (TOKI · GhanaSat-1 · Mazaalai · BRAC Onnesha · Nigeria EduSat-1) – GSAT-19 – EchoStar 21 – Progress MS-06 – HXMT / Insight · Zhuhai-1 01, 02 · ÑuSat 3 – ChinaSat 9A – Cartosat-2E · Aalto-1 · ROBUSTA-1B · Max Valier Sat – Nivelir-ZU (14F150) – BulgariaSat-1 – Iridium NEXT-2 – EuropaSat/Hellas Sat 3 · GSAT-17 |
| July | Shijian-18 – Intelsat 35e – Kanopus-V-IK · CICERO × 3 · Corvus-BC × 2 · Ecuador-UTE-YuZGU · Flock-2k × 48 · Flying Laptop · Iskra-MAI-85 · Lemur-2 × 8 · MKA-N × 2 · Mayak · NORSAT-1, -2 · NanoACE · TechnoSat · WNISAT-1R – Soyuz MS-05 |
| August | OPTSAT-3000 · VENµS – Dragon CRS-12 · ASTERIA – Blagovest 11L – TDRS-M – Michibiki 3 – Formosat-5 – ORS-5 – IRNSS-1H |
| September | USA-277 / OTV-5 – Amazonas 5 – Soyuz MS-06 – Kosmos 2522 / GLONASS-M 752 – USA-278 / NROL-42 – AsiaSat 9 – Yaogan-30-01 × 3 – Intelsat 37e · BSAT-4a |
| October | VRSS-2 – Iridium NEXT 21–30 – QZS-4 – SES-11 / EchoStar 105 – Sentinel-5 Precursor – Progress MS-07 – USA-279 / NROL-52 / Quasar 21 – Koreasat 5A – SkySat × 6 · Flock-3m × 4 |
| November | BeiDou-3 M1 · M2 – Mohammed VI-A – Cygnus CRS OA-8E · Asgardia-1 – Fengyun-3D · HEAD-1 – NOAA-20 – Jilin-1 × 3 – Yaogan-30-02 × 3 – Meteor-M No.2-1 |
| December | Kosmos 2524 – LKW-1 – Alcomsat-1 – Galileo FOC 15-18 – Dragon CRS-13 – Soyuz MS-07 – GCOM-C · SLATS – Iridium NEXT 31–40 – Yaogan-30-03 × 3 – AngoSat 1 |
Launches are separated by dashes ( – ), payloads by dots ( · ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). CubeSats are smaller. Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in brackets). | |
← 2017 · Orbital launches in 2018 · 2019 → | |
|---|---|
| January | USA-280 / Zuma – SuperView / Gaojing-1 03 · 04 – BeiDou-3 M7 · M8 – Cartosat-2F · Microsat · INS-1C · PicSat · ICEYE-X1 · Fox-1D – LKW-3 – ASNARO-2 – Jilin 1 07 · 08 · Xiaoxiang · Zhou Enlai · Kepler · Quantutong-1 – USA-282 / SBIRS-GEO-4 – "Still Testing" (Dove Pioneer · Lemur-2 × 2 · Humanity Star) – Yaogan 30K · 30L · 30M · Weina 1A – SES-14 · Al Yah 3 – GovSat-1 / SES-16 |
| February | Kanopus-V No. 3 · No. 4 · S-Net × 4 · Lemur-2 × 4 – CSES · ÑuSat 4, 5 – TRICOM-1R – Falcon Heavy test flight (Tesla Roadster) – BeiDou-3 M3 · M4 – Progress MS-08 – Paz · Tintin A & B – IGS-Optical 6 |
| March | GOES-17 – Hispasat 30W-6 – O3b × 4 (FM13 to FM16) – Soyuz MS-08 – GSAT-6A – EMKA / Kosmos 2525 – BeiDou-3 M9 · M10 – Iridium NEXT 41–50 – Gaofen-1-02 · 03 · 04 |
| April | Dragon CRS-14 · 1KUNS-PF · Irazú · UBAKUSAT – Superbird-B3 · HYLAS-4 – Yaogan 31A · 31B · 31C · Weina 1B – IRNSS-1I – AFSPC-11 · EAGLE – Blagovest-12L / Kosmos 2526 – TESS – Sentinel-3B – Zhuhai-1 × 5 |
| May | Apstar 6C – InSight · MarCO A, B – Gaofen-5 – Bangabandhu-1 – Chang'e 4 Relay – Cygnus CRS OA-9E · RaInCube – Iridium NEXT 51–55 · GRACE-FO × 2 |
| June | Gaofen-6 – SES-12 – Fengyun-2H – Soyuz MS-09 – IGS-Radar 6 – GLONASS-M 756 / Kosmos 2527 – XJSS A · B – Dragon CRS-15 (Biarri-Squad × 3 · BHUTAN-1 · Maya-1 · UiTMSAT-1) |
| July | PRSS-1 · PakTES-1A – BeiDou IGSO-7 – Progress MS-09 – Telstar 19V – Galileo FOC 19–22 – Iridium NEXT 56–65 – BeiDou-3 M5 · M6 – Gaofen 11 |
| August | |
| September | HY-1C – Telstar 18V – ICESat-2 — SSTL S1-4 · NovaSAR-1 – BeiDou-3 M13 · M14 – Kounotori 7 – Azerspace-2 / Intelsat 38 · Horizons-3e – CentiSpace-1-S1 |
| October | SAOCOM 1A – Yaogan 32A · 32B – Soyuz MS-10 – BeiDou-3 M15 · M16 – AEHF-4 – BepiColombo – HY 2B – Lotos-S1 No. 3 / Kosmos 2528 – Weilai-1 – CFOSAT – GOSAT-2 · KhalifaSat · Diwata-2B · Stars-AO · AUTcube2 |
| November | BeiDou-3 G1Q – GLONASS-M 757 / Kosmos 2529 – MetOp-C – "It's Business Time" (Lemur-2 × 2 · CICERO · IRVINE01 · NABEO · Proxima × 2) – GSAT-29 – Es'hail 2 – Progress MS-10 – Cygnus NG-10 – BeiDou-3 M17 · M18 – Jiading-1 · Tianping-1A, 1B · Tianzhi-1 · Weixing-6 – Mohammed VI-B – HySIS · Blacksky Global 1 · 29 more CubeSats – Strela-3M 16–18 / Kosmos 2530–2532 |
| December | Soyuz MS-11 – Eu:CROPIS · ESEO · IRVINE02 · Orbital Reflector (one of 64 CubeSats on the SSO-A mission) – GSAT-11 · GEO-KOMPSAT 2A – SpaceX CRS-16 – SaudiSat 5A, 5B – Chang'e 4 (Yutu-2) – "This One's For Pickering" (RSat-P · CubeSail · total 16 CubeSats) – GSAT-7A – CSO-1 – Blagovest-13L / Kosmos 2533 – Hongyun 1 – USA-289 / GPS IIIA-01 – TJSW-3 – Kanopus-V No. 5 · No. 6 · GRUS-1 · D-Star ONE iSat · D-Star ONE Sparrow · Flock-3k × 12 · Lemur-2 × 8 · Lume-1 · ZACube-2 – Hongyan 1 · Yunhai-2 01–06 |
Launches are separated by dashes ( – ), payloads by dots ( · ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). CubeSats are smaller. Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in brackets). | |