Sentinel-6-Satellit im Orbit Credit: ESA/ATG
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.