Watch SpaceX launch powerful ocean-mapping satellite for Europe and NASA early Nov. 17
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Credit: SpaceX
SpaceX will launch an advanced ocean-mapping satellite from California early Monday morning (Nov. 17), and you can watch the action live.
The Sentinel-6B spacecraft is expected to lift off atop a Falcon 9 rocket Vandenberg Space Base Monday at 12:21 a.m. EDT (05:21 GMT; 9:21 p.m. November 16, California local time).
You can watch the launch live here on Space.com courtesy of NASA, or directly through the space agency. Coverage will begin at 11:30 p.m. EDT Sunday (November 16; 04:30 GMT November 17).
The Copernicus Sentinel-6B ocean monitoring satellite is ready for launch in California. | Credit: USSF 30th Space Wing
Sentinel-6B is part of the European Union project Copernicus Earth Observation Program. The new satellite will measure sea surface heights around the world with great precision, continuing the work of its predecessor, Sentinel 6 Michael Frelichlaunched atop a Falcon 9 in November 2020.
“Monitoring sea level rise is a global priority” European Space Agency (ESA) wrote in a Description of the Sentinel-6B mission.
“Over the past 25 years, the average height of the planet’s oceans has increased by almost 10 cm [4 inches]according to Copernicus data,” they added. “The Copernicus Sentinel-6 mission has become the gold standard mission for monitoring and recording this key consequence of climate change“.
Sentinel-6B will carry out this work using a radar-altimeter instrument developed by ESA. The satellite also carries a microwave radiometer provided by NASA, which will determine the water content of the atmosphere, allowing more accurate interpretation of the altimeter results.
During its first year of observations, Sentinel-6B will work with Sentinel 6 Michael Frelich, “enabling greater precision with precise cross-calibration between the two instruments,” ESA officials wrote of the mission, which is a collaboration between the European Commission, ESA, NASA, Eumetsat and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with support from the French space agency CNES.
If all goes as planned Monday morning, the Falcon 9 upper stage will deploy Sentinel-6B approximately 57 minutes after liftoff. The 3,175-pound (1,440-kilogram) satellite will then head to its scientific orbit, located 830 miles (1,336 kilometers) above Earth.
The first stage of the Falcon 9 will return to Vandenberg for a landing approximately nine minutes after takeoff. This will be the third flight of this particular booster; his two previous missions transported batches of EspaceXStarlink high-speed satellites, depending on the company.
