(Alliance News) - Avio Spa reported Monday that the Vega launcher lifted off from the French Guiana Space Center at 2236 local time, 0336 CEST, and successfully completed the VV23 mission, placing two satellites plus ten auxiliary payloads into heliosynchronous orbit.

The VV23 mission launch sequence had been previously scheduled for Saturday but was aborted a few hours earlier due to a value slightly above the maximum threshold during the final countdown.

The THEOS-2 Thailand Earth Observation System 2 satellite is an ultra-high resolution optical earth observation satellite to support the Kingdom of Thailand's main development priorities, with a ground image resolution of 50 centimeters.

The FORMOSAT-7R/TRITON satellite is an experimental satellite designed and built by the Taiwan Space Agency equipped with a global navigation satellite reflectometry system that collects reflected signals from the surface of the oceans, enabling the calculation of wind speed.

In addition, the company points out in a note, ten auxiliary payloads were properly deployed thanks to the innovative Small Spacecraft Mission Service dispenser capable of accommodating multiple microsatellites for rideshare services, first used during the Vega VV16 flight in September 2020.

Giulio Ranzo, CEO of Avio, commented, "We are very happy with the success of the mission. The joint work of the Avio, Arianespace, ESA and CNES teams made it possible to use the Vega launcher while minimizing schedule changes for customers, demonstrating resilience and commitment."

Avio's stock closed Friday in the red by 0.8 percent at EUR7.60 per share.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

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