IRIDE's Eaglet II satellites inside Falcon 9 fairing

The final batch of Eaglet II satellites for Italy’s IRIDE Earth observation programme has reached orbit, bringing the programme a step closer to achieving its goals of providing satellite data for Italy’s environmental, emergency and security services.

The launch took place on Thursday, 1 October, at 20:32 CEST (11:32 local time) with SpaceX’s Transporter-18 rideshare on a Falcon 9 launcher, from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. This brings the total number of IRIDE satellites in orbit to 39.

The satellites form part of a comprehensive system that includes ground infrastructure and digital capabilities that transform the Earth observation data into applications that support public sector services, as well as research and economic development. The range of applications supported by IRIDE include the monitoring of ground motion, land cover, hydrogeological resources, fires, coastal protection, air quality, weather and critical infrastructure.

Read full story: Italy’s IRIDE completes Eaglet II constellation