FLEX separates from the Vespa launch adapter

FLEX is launched on a Vega-C rocket, along with Sentinel-3C (not pictured here).

FLEX is designed to reveal a phenomenon invisible to the human eye: the faint fluorescence emitted by plants as they photosynthesise. Equipped with a Fluorescence Imaging Spectrometer, FLEX will detect and measure this incredibly weak signal from orbit. Because the fluorescence varies with plant health and environmental conditions, the measurements will provide scientists with new information about photosynthetic activity and vegetation stress on a global scale.

FLEX and Sentinel-3C are being launched together. Sentinel-3C will be injected into orbit first so it sits above FLEX in the Vega-C fairing. To accommodate the two satellites, FLEX is encapsulated within the lower part of a secondary payload adapter called Vespa. Sentinel-3C was then mated to the upper part of Vespa.