Published on 17 February 2016
The third ESA-developed satellite carrying four Earth-observing instruments was launched yesterday evening, ready to provide a ‘bigger picture’ for Europe’s Copernicus environment programme.
The 1150 kg Sentinel-3A satellite was carried into orbit on a Rockot launcher from Plesetsk, Russia, at 17:57 GMT (18:57 CET; 20:57 local time) on 16 February.
Sentinel-3A artist's impression. Source: ESA Observing the Earth
The mission is the third of six families of dedicated missions that make up the core of Europe’s Copernicus environmental monitoring network. Copernicus relies on the Sentinels and contributing missions to provide data for monitoring the environment and supporting civil security activities. Sentinel-3 carries a series of cutting-edge sensors to do just that.
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