Meet Composante Spatiale Optique -2, CSO-2: a French military Earth Observation satellite.

Part of a fleet of three CSO satellites, the trio are replacing the aging Helios 2 military constellation.

CSO-1 launched in December 2018 and is operational in an 800 km (497 mile) Sun-synchronous orbit, meaning each time it passes over the same location on Earth's surface, it does it at the exact same local solar time.

This is a fancy way of saying that if the satellite passes over Paris for the first time at 12pm local solar noon, when the Sun reaches its highest point in the sky that day, it will then pass over Paris at 12pm local solar noon each time it flies over... even as that local solar noon moves earlier and later in the day (if measured by clocks on the ground) with the passing of the seasons.

CSO-2 will go to a much lower Sun-synchronous orbit at just 480 km (298 miles) to collect even more detailed images of Earth's surface, with resolution of just 20 cm (7.6 inches).

CSO-3 will follow its two siblings to space in 2021 and will go to an 800 km Sun-synchronous orbit, just like CSO-1.

Image: Supercluster artist's impression of a CSO satellite

Lead image: Soyuz. Credit: CC "Yuzhny" / Roscosmos

The Soyuz 2.1a/Fregat-M rocket as it is known to Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency, is also called the Soyuz ST-A when used by Arianespace for European launches.

It is built by the Progress Rocket Space Centre (TsSKB-Progress) under the jurisdiction of Roscosmos.

The Soyuz 2.1a/Fregat-M provides medium-lift capability.

It can be launched from all three Roscosmos launch sites: the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in western Russia, and the Vostochny Cosmodrome in eastern Russia.

For Arianespace, it is primarily launched from Guiana Space Centre in South America, making it the only -- at present -- rocket to launch from more than one continent.

Image credit: CC "Yuzhny" / TSENKI / Roscosmos

The Guiana Space Center (French: Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG)) is a French and European spaceport located near Kourou in French Guiana near the northern tip of South America. The facility has been operational since 1968 and host launches for the European Space Agency (ESA), the French National Centre for Space Studies, and commercial companies Arianespace and Azercosmos.

A total of 9 different rocket types have launched from the Guiana Space Centre, including three active rockets and six retired vehicles.

The current rocket fleet at CSG is comprised of the Ariane 5 for heavy payloads, the Russian-provided Soyuz for medium-mass payloads, and Vega for smaller mass payloads.

The Ariane 6, currently under development, will launch from CSG beginning in the early 2020s.