Arianespace is launching three new satellites for the French military

Arianespace is set to launch its Vega rocket in Kourou at 6:27 a.m. local time (09:27 UTC) on November 16th, 2021. It will launch from the Ensemble de Lancement Vega (ELV) pad at the Guiana Space Center, the oldest of its launch pads.

Its mission is to launch three Capacite de Renseignement d'origine Electromagnetique Spatiale (CERES) satellites (which translates to "Intelligence Capacity of Space Electromagnetic Origin"). These satellites are operated by the French space agency Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (translating to the National Centre for Space Studies).

"The objective of the CERES military electronic intelligence mission is to gather signals intelligence from areas that surface sensors cannot reach, free from airspace overflight constraints and in all weathers, thus providing an in-depth situational picture to support conception and execution of military operations. Signals collected by each satellite will be combined to precisely locate detected communication systems," said French space agency CNES said in a mission description.

This mission marks Arianespace's 12th flight for the year and the 300th ever launch for its rockets. The mission is also Vega's third this year and 20th overall. Since its inception, 17 of the 19 Vega flights have been successful.

The launch was live-streamed on Arianespace's website and YouTube channel, which you can view below.