Arianespace is contracted to launch the DirectTV and Eutelsat 7C communications satellites into space atop an Ariane 5 rocket. The double-satellite launch is designated VA248 and will place the two spacecraft into a geostationary transfer orbit.

An Arianespace Soyuz rocket will carry the first COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation (CSG 1) radar surveillance satellite for ASI, the Italian space agency. The European Space Agency’s Characterizing Exoplanet Satellite, or CHEOPS, will fly as a secondary payload on the mission. Built by Airbus Defense and Space in Spain with a Swiss-developed science instrument, CHEOPS will observe transits of planets around other stars to measure their radii.