Airbus Defence and Space will launch the inaugural satellite of its new Pléiades Neo Next constellation in early 2028. The spacecraft will lift off from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, aboard an Avio Vega C rocket.
This next-generation programme marks a significant enhancement of Airbus’s Earth observation services, designed to solidify its leadership in geospatial technology. The new satellites will introduce advanced assets and capabilities, most notably a native optical resolution in the 20-centimeter class, setting a new benchmark for commercial imagery quality.
“The Pléiades Neo Next programme builds directly on the proven success of our current Pléiades Neo constellation, which serves government and commercial clients globally,” said Eric Even, Head of Space Digital at Airbus Defence and Space. “It will further elevate our standard of excellence in quality, performance, and reliability, delivering not just superior images but also advanced geo-intelligence services and applications.”
Fully funded, manufactured, and operated by Airbus, the programme’s entire image capacity will be available across diverse sectors. These include defence and intelligence, agriculture, environmental monitoring, maritime surveillance, disaster response, mapping, and urban planning.
Operational flexibility remains a cornerstone. Users can directly task satellites mere dozens of minutes before an overpass of their area of interest. Imagery will be delivered rapidly via customer-owned Direct Receiving Stations (DRS) or through Airbus’s OneAtlas digital platform, enabling mission-critical decision-making.
The synergy between the existing Pléiades Neo and the new Neo Next fleet will provide an unmatched revisit rate of several times per day anywhere on Earth, coupled with industry-leading spatial resolution and geolocation accuracy. Beyond the improved sensor, development efforts will also upgrade the ground segment, DRS network, and the OneAtlas platform. This will increase the system’s capacity to handle imagery requests and drastically optimize the timeline from tasking to image reception.
Pléiades Neo Next strengthens Airbus’s comprehensive Earth observation portfolio, which includes complementary optical and radar satellite constellations offering various resolutions and all-weather, day-and-night capabilities. In tandem, Airbus is pioneering new persistent monitoring capabilities using stratospheric platforms, ensuring a multi-layered approach to global observation.
