The space business of Europe-based global major aerospace and defence group Airbus has announced that the second Copernicus Sentinel-6 ocean-surface monitoring satellite has been transported to Vandenberg Space Force Base, in the US state of California, in preparation for its launch. The new Sentinel-6 was scheduled for launch in November.

“Building on the remarkable success of Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, launched in November 2020, this new Sentinel-6 satellite will ensure the unbroken flow of ultra-precise ocean surface topography data for the next six years,” highlighted Airbus Defence and Space Earth Observation, Science and Space Exploration head Marc Steckling. “This follow-on mission will meticulously map ocean topography, track sea-level changes with centimetre-level accuracy, and monitor ocean currents, repeating its global survey every ten days.”

The new satellite continued a programme of using satellites to gather ocean data that started in 1992. It was equipped with a latest-technology radar altimeter and a sophisticated microwave radiometer. Like the first Sentinel-6, it has a mass of 1.5 t.

Global sea levels are rising at a rate of more than 4 mm every year. The precise data provided by the new Sentinel-6 will give researchers critically-important knowledge into sea levels, worldwide, as well as ocean conditions, current dynamics, wind speeds and ocean heat storage. This will in turn give deeper insight into the effects of climate change on the oceans, and allow better prediction of these effects on vulnerable coastal communities. These insights will further allow governments and institutions to better prepare for these consequences, through both urban planning and disaster preparedness.

The Sentinel-6 satellites are part of the Copernicus programme, which is the Earth observation element of the EU’s space programme. Copernicus is co-funded by the EU and by the European Space Agency (ESA – which is independent of the EU) and is managed by the European Commission. The Sentinel-6 mission is itself a joint international programme, led by ESA, the US National Aeronautical and Space Agency, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (much better known as EUMETSAT and also not part of the EU), and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and is supported by the French space agency, CNES.