Q&A with Josef Aschbacher, director of ESA’s Earth observation programs (members only)

Eutelsat is the first commercial company to commit to launching on Europe’s new Ariane 6 rocket, under a five-launch agreement announced Monday in conjunction with fresh contracts for Arianespace to haul a French spy satellite and a pair of Indian communications satellites into orbit.

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle has been stacked on its launch pad for blastoff early Wednesday with a new resource-mapping satellite to aid in urban planning, crop monitoring and improve emergency response to natural disasters.

Check out a 4K video clip of Monday’s Falcon 9 launch viewed from Spaceflight Now’s office at the Kennedy Space Center.