NASA, SpaceX launched an American-European satellite for monitoring the Earth’s oceans

About the size of a full-size pickup truck, the recently launched satellite by NASA and its partners will provide information about the ocean and atmosphere to improve hurricane forecasts, help protect infrastructure and benefit commercial activities, such as shipping.

The Sentinel-6B satellite lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Central California at 9:21 PM PST on November 16. Contact between the satellite and the ground station in northern Canada occurred about 1 hour and 30 minutes later at 10:54 p.m. All systems are working normally.

“Understanding inch-by-inch tidal patterns is critical to protecting the way we use our oceans on Earth every day,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Sentinel-6B will build on the legacy of Michael Freilich’s Sentinel-6 by making sea level measurements that improve forecasts used by communities, businesses and operations across the country. It will also support safer re-entry for our returning astronauts, including crew from the Artemis Moon missions.”

Sea level varies from place to place, and the satellite will provide accurate local and global measurements – all from hundreds of miles above in low Earth orbit. These observations form the basis of U.S. flood forecasts, which are critical to protecting coastal infrastructure, real estate, energy storage, and other coastal assets. Sentinel-6B will take over from Michael Freilich’s Sentinel-6, which was launched in 2020 and later became the official reference satellite for global sea level measurements, providing measurements of sea surface height against which the accuracy of measurements from other satellites is compared.

The satellite comes from a collaboration of multiple partners, including NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), EUMETSAT (European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It is also part of the Copernicus mission family of the European Union.

“Collaboration between partners is essential for a mission like Sentinel-6, and I thank everyone involved in the development, launch and management of this exceptional satellite, which follows in the footsteps of the first Sentinel-6, Michael Freilich,” said Simonetta Cheli, Director of ESA’s Earth Observation Programmes. “This achievement shows what can be achieved when international agencies and industries work together toward a common goal. Sentinel-6B will ensure we continue to collect the high-precision data needed to understand our changing climate, protect our oceans, and support decisions that protect coastal communities around the world.”

The two satellites make up the Copernicus Sentinel-6/Jason-CS (Continuity of Service) mission, the latest in a series of ocean-observing radar altimetry missions that have tracked changes in the Earth’s oceans since the early 1990s.

As with its predecessor, the Sentinel-6B satellite will also provide key information on wind speeds, wave heights, atmospheric temperature and humidity. Moreover, because water expands as temperature increases, researchers can tell which parts of the ocean are warmer than others based on where the sea surface is higher.

Combined with data from other instruments, that knowledge can help predict marine weather, including the development of hurricanes, which strengthen with warmer water. Also, since large currents are higher than surrounding waters due to higher temperatures, sea surface measurements can shed light on interactions between the Gulf Stream, for example, and nearby waves. Where they meet, the sea can become rougher, posing a danger to even the largest ships.

“Sentinel-6B is a testament to the value of NASA’s partner missions to put practical satellite information and science in the hands of decision makers on the ground,” said Karen St. Germain, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division at the agency’s headquarters. “Sentinel-6B will collect ocean surface observations that will inform decisions critical to coastal communities, commercial shipping and fishing, national defense and emergency preparedness and response. That’s what NASA does—putting advanced technology and science into action for the benefit of the nation.”

When Sentinel-6B reaches its operating elevation, the satellite will fly about 30 seconds behind Michael Freilich’s Sentinel-6, which carries identical science instruments. After the mission completes cross-calibrating the data collected by the two, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich will move into another orbit, and Sentinel-6B will take over as the official reference satellite, circling Earth about 13 times a day at 830 miles (1,336 kilometers) above the surface.

“Sentinel-6B demonstrates the versatile Earth science applications made possible by expertly engineered space-based technology. The satellite’s powerful suite of instruments will measure about 90% of Earth’s oceans down to a fraction of an inch — continuing to add to the vital dataset on which America and the growing global community depend,” said Dave Gallagher, director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California.

More about Sentinel-6B

Copernicus Sentinel-6/Jason-CS is the result of a collaboration between ESA, the European Union, EUMETSAT, NASA and NOAA. The French space agency CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales) provided technical support. Copernicus, which includes the Sentinel missions, is the European Union’s Earth observation program led by the European Commission.

Caltech’s Pasadena division, JPL contributed three science instruments for each Sentinel-6 satellite: Advanced Microwave Radiometerthe Global Navigation Satellite System – Radio Occultationand laser retroreflector array. NASA also contributes launch services, ground systems that support the operation of NASA’s science instruments, science data processors for two of these instruments, and support for US members of the International Ocean Surface Topography Science Team and the Sentinel-6 science teams.

To learn more about Sentinel-6B, visit:

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/sentinel-6B/

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Elizabeth Vlock
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov

Andrew Wang / Andrew Good
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
626-379-6874 / 626-840-4291
andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov / andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov