For its ninth launch of the year, and the 13th Vega mission since this launcher began its career at the Guiana Center in 2012, Arianespace orbit the MOHAMMED VI-b satellite on Wednesday 21 November 2018 at 02h42; Morocco, due to the enlightened vision of His Majesty the King MOHAMMED VI, is the first African country that possesses a constellation of earth surveillance satellites with a very high resolution.
The satellite MOHAMMED VI-B will be managed, exactly the same way as the satellite MOHAMMED VI-A (launched on 07 November 2017), by Moroccan engineers and technicians, who had been specifically trained for this purpose, in Morocco as well as abroad.
The satellite MOHAMMED VI-B will be exclusively for civil uses of the satellite images, their contribution in the following fields:
The cadastre and the cartography: topographic mapping of the whole national territory and its daily update, cadastral works, in particular, land parcels surveys,
Agriculture: survey of farmlands by thematic cartography, soil fertility assessment, diagnosis of the state of cultivations in order to improve and optimize the farmer’s performance, irrigated zone mapping, agricultural campaigns monitoring…
Water resources: water surface identification and humid areas cartography, monitoring of beach erosion, quantification of water volumes in lakes and dams…
Building and Public Works and Transport: Inspection of art works and linear works, monitoring of construction progress, transportation route’s localization and optimization…
Forestry: forest species mapping and forest inventory updating, forest burned areas mapping…
Mines and geology: Geologic mapping of mining deposits and the assessments of their extents, geological structures analysis, mining exploration.
Communication networks: Establishment of updated cartographic backgrounds, for the visualization of road and rail networks.
Monitoring of major projects: Mapping of major projects and monitoring of the progress of their achievement (solar power plants, wind farms, dams and other infrastructural projects)…
Urban and land use planning: Monitoring the evolution of the urban districts and peripheral areas, control of the substandard housing, land-use plans, mapping of land-use and the monitoring of desertification.
Oceanography and coastal areas: Support the exploitation, the planning and the integrated management of the oceanographic spaces, the littoral and the coastal areas. Contribute in shaping master plans and costal planning,
Natural Catastrophies: Assist in case of a natural catastrophy, cartography of disaster areas, floods, fires, earthquakes
Borders and littoral surveillance: littoral’s planning, analysis of the evolution of soil occupation, impact of harbors on their environment, illegal migration flux.
