PROBA-V CubeSat Companion

PROBA-V CubeSat Companion

Operator	European Space Agency
COSPAR ID	2023-155K
SATCAT no.	58025
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	12U CubeSat
Manufacturer	Aerospacelab
Start of mission
Launch date	9 October 2023
Rocket	Vega
Launch site	Guiana Space Centre
General Support Technology Programme (GSTP) ←  PRETTY PROBA-3  → PROBA satellite series ←  PROBA-V PROBA-3  →

The PROBA-V CubeSat Companion (PVCC) is a technology demonstration and Earth observation satellite by the European Space Agency (ESA). ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} It is hosting one spectral imager, a spare unit built for the PROBA-V's Vegetation instrument (VGT). The VGT instrument itself was originally developed for the French SPOT satellites. PVCC's goal is to test the abilities of a small CubeSat platform using a well-understood instrument and to cross-calibrate its vegetation growth observations with the Copernicus programme's Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 missions. ^{[5] [6] [7]} PVCC was launched on the Vega rocket flight VV23 in October 2023. ^{[8] [9] [10]}

See also

• List of European Space Agency programmes and missions
• PROBA satellite series

References

1. "PROBA V-CC (PVCC)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2025-10-19.
2. Kulu, Erik. "Proba-V Companion CubeSat". Nanosats Database. Retrieved 2025-10-19.
3. "WMO OSCAR Satellite: PROBA-V-CC". space.oscar.wmo.int. Retrieved 2025-10-19.
4. "SatNOGS DB - PVCC". db.satnogs.org. Retrieved 2025-10-19.
5. "Big Earth Imager To Be Tested On A Small Vega CubeSat".
6. "PROBA-V's companion explores low-cost remote sensing - Earth Online". earth.esa.int. Archived from the original on 2024-05-05. Retrieved 2025-10-19.
7. "PROBA-V (Project for On-Board Autonomy - Vegetation) and Companion CubeSat - eoPortal". www.eoportal.org. Archived from the original on 2024-08-06. Retrieved 2025-10-19.
8. Graham, William (2023-10-06). "Arianespace's Vega launches 12 satellites on VV23 mission". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 2025-10-19.
9. "PROBA-V's companion satellite launched succesfully [sic] | PROBA-V". proba-v.vgt.vito.be. Retrieved 2025-10-19.
10. Collaud, Xavier; Viitalà, Mikko; Billast, Maud (2025-03-21). "Proba-V companion CubeSat (PVCC) mission first light and commissioning". In Petrozzi-Ilstad, Max (ed.). Small Satellites Systems and Services Symposium (4S 2024). SPIE. p. 31. doi:10.1117/12.3061321. ISBN   978-1-5106-8894-0.