Sea-level monitoring satellite Sentinel-6B sets sail

The Sentinel -6B will run at the footsteps of its predecessor, Sentinel -6 Michael FreeLich, at least 2030 to continue the important record of maritime surface height measurements through 2030.

To ensure the highest data accuracy and continuity, Sentinel -6B will revolve around the Sentinel -6 Michael Felich for its first year, allowing the exact cross -calibration between the two devices.

With the importance of monitoring sea -level growth on the global agenda, many organizations have been involved in creating Copernicus Prahari -6 -6 Gold Standard Reference Mission to take a record of the height measurement of the sea surface in the future, and to do so with more accuracy than before.

Therefore, while the Sentinel -6 is one of the European Union’s family of Copernicus missions, its implementation is the result of an extraordinary collaboration between the European Commission, ESA, NASA, EUMETSAT, and NOAA with the support of the CNES French Space Agency.

The mission consists of two identical satellites: Sentinel -6 Michael Felich, which was launched in late 2020, and Sentinel -6B, now the Wandenberg Space Force is the route to the base launch site. These satellites continue the legacy of monitoring of the Char-Satthe height started with the French-US Topax Posidon Mission in 1992, followed by the Jason series of satellites.

The ESA’s major contract for the construction of the mission is the Airbus Defense and Space in Germany with the Thles Elonia in France responsible for the ultimate with space.

The Mission French -US Jason makes her inheritance from ESA’s Cryosat and Copernicus Sentinel -3 missions.

Developed by ESA, the main device is Posidon-4 dual-frequency (C-Band and KU-band) radar ultimeter that is the radar ultimate to measure air speed to support the sea surface height, significant wave height and operating oceanography.

An advanced microwave radiometer provided by NASA supports Posidon -4.

The water in the atmosphere affects the speed of radar pulses-and therefore estimates the height of the sea surface. Advanced microwave radiometer determines the amount of water in the atmosphere to correct the radar measurement correctly.

In addition to five years, it was planned to be launched, Sentinel -6B is now preparing to move to the sky and later moving from his predecessor, Sentinel -6 Michael FreeLich.

Earlier this year, Sentinel -6B was removed from storage and had to undergo a series of checks in Iabg in Ottobun, Germany.

This was followed by Laurie to Bremen, where it was loaded Industrial dolphin For a three -week trip to Galveston, Texas.

On arrival, it will continue on the road for NASA facilities at the Wandenberg Space Force Base, where it will remain in storage by early October, when the preparation of the final launch will begin.

With its November launch closer, the Sentinel-6B has been designed to expand the legacy of more than three decades of sea-level measurements-it is important to understand and respond to one of the most pressured challenges of our time.