NASA, SpaceX Launch US-European Satellite to Monitor Earth’s Oceans

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

The Sentinel-6B satellite lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Station in central California at 9:21 p.m. PT on November 16. Contact between the satellite and a ground station in northern Canada took place approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes later, at 10:54 p.m. All systems are operating normally.

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

Sea levels vary from place to place and the satellite will provide precise measurements on a local and global scale, all from hundreds of kilometers above low Earth orbit. These observations form the basis of U.S. flood forecasts, which are crucial to safeguarding coastal infrastructure, real estate, energy storage sites and other coastal assets. Sentinel-6B will succeed Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, launched in 2020 and later became the official reference satellite for global sea level measurements, providing measurements of sea surface height with which those of other satellites are compared for accuracy.

The satellite is the result of a collaboration between several 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 European Union’s family of Copernicus missions.

“Collaboration between partners is essential for a mission like Sentinel-6, and my thanks go to everyone who participated in the development, launch and operation of this exceptional satellite, which follows in the footsteps of the first Sentinel-6, Michael Freilich,” said Simonetta Cheli, Director of Earth Observation Programs at ESA. “This achievement demonstrates what can be accomplished when international agencies and industries work together toward a common goal. Sentinel-6B will ensure that we continue to collect the high-precision data needed to understand our changing climate, safeguard 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 monitored changes in Earth’s seas since the early 1990s.

Like its predecessor, the Sentinel-6B satellite will also provide key information on wind speed, wave height, atmospheric temperature and humidity. Additionally, because water expands as its temperature increases, researchers can determine which parts of the ocean are warmer than others based on where the sea surface height is highest.

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

“Sentinel-6B demonstrates the value of NASA’s partnership missions in putting actionable satellite and scientific information in the hands of decision-makers on the ground,” said Karen St. Germain, director of NASA’s Earth Sciences Division at agency headquarters. “Sentinel-6B will collect ocean surface observations that will inform critical decisions for coastal communities, commercial shipping and fishing, national defense, and emergency preparedness and response. That’s what NASA does: implementing cutting-edge technology and science for the benefit of the nation.”

When Sentinel-6B reaches operational elevation, the satellite will fly about 30 seconds behind Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, which carries identical scientific instruments. Once the mission finishes calibrating the data collected by the two, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich will move into a different orbit and Sentinel-6B will assume the role of official reference satellite, orbiting the 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 designed space technology. The satellite’s powerful suite of instruments will measure approximately 90 percent of Earth’s oceans to fractions of an inch, continuing to enrich a vital data set that America and a growing global community depend on,” said Dave Gallagher, director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California.

Learn more about Sentinel-6B

Copernicus Sentinel-6/Jason-CS is 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.

A division of Caltech in Pasadena, JPL provided three scientific instruments for each Sentinel-6 satellite: the Advanced Microwave Radiometer, the Global Navigation Satellite System – Radio Occultation, and the Laser Retroreflector Array. NASA also provides launch services, ground systems supporting the operation of NASA’s science instruments, science data processors for two of those instruments, and support to U.S. 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 Bon
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
626-379-6874 / 626-840-4291
andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov / andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov