New cli­mate guardian in space – Sen­tinel-6 will mon­i­tor glob­al rise in sea lev­els

• On 21 November 2020 at 18:17 CET, the eighth satellite of the European Copernicus programme, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California (US) on board a Falcon 9 launcher.
• The mission will monitor sea level rise as well as recording sea state and ocean currents.
• The identical Copernicus Sentinel-6B satellite is scheduled for launch in 2025 and will continue making measurements into the next decade.

Sen­ti­nel-6-Sa­tel­lite in Or­bit (Credit: ESA/ATG)

With the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite, a new ‘climate guardian’ will observe Earth from space. On 21 November 2020 at 18:17 CET (09:17 local time), the eighth satellite of the European Copernicus programme  lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California (US) on board a Falcon 9 launcher. “Climate change is one of the great challenges of our time,” explains Walther Pelzer, a member of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) Executive Board and Head of the DLR Space Administration. “Sentinel-6 will help to continuously and reliably monitor global sea level rise. With this mission, we are therefore further expanding our leading role in space-based climate observation.” In addition to sea level, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich will also record the sea state and ocean currents. The satellite is expected to remain in service until at least 2025. After that, the identical Sentinel-6B satellite will continue the measurement series.

Read more on the  DLR Website.