OrbitalHub

ESA dixit:

“This timelapse video shows Sentinel-5P satellite, from final preparations to liftoff on a Rockot launcher, from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia, on 13 October 2017.

The Sentinels are a fleet of satellites designed to deliver the wealth of data and imagery that are central to the European Commission’s Copernicus programme. This unique environmental monitoring programme is providing a step change in the way we view and manage our environment, understand and tackle the effects of climate change and safeguard everyday lives.

Sentinel-5 Precursor – also known as Sentinel-5P – is the first Copernicus mission dedicated to monitoring our atmosphere. The satellite carries the state-of-the-art Tropomi instrument to map a multitude of trace gases such as nitrogen dioxide, ozone, formaldehyde, sulphur dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide and aerosols – all of which affect the air we breathe and therefore our health, and our climate.

With a swath width of 2600 km, it will map the entire planet every day. Information from this new mission will be used through the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service for air quality forecasts and for decision-making. The mission will also contribute to services such as volcanic ash monitoring for aviation safety and for services that warn of high levels of UV radiation, which can cause skin damage. In addition, scientists will also use the data to improve our knowledge of important processes in the atmosphere related to the climate and to the formation of holes in the ozone layer.

Sentinel-5P was developed to reduce data gaps between the Envisat satellite – in particular the Sciamachy instrument – and the launch of Sentinel-5, and to complement GOME-2 on MetOp. In the future, both the geostationary Sentinel-4 and polar-orbiting Sentinel-5 missions will monitor the composition of the atmosphere for Copernicus Atmosphere Services. Both missions will be carried on meteorological satellites operated by Eumetsat. Until then, the Sentinel-5P mission will play a key role in monitoring and tracking air pollution.”

Video credit: ESA

Credits: ESA – P.Carril

The European Union’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative was born as the result of a growing need for accurate and accessible information about the environment, the effects of climate change, and civil security. GMES uses as its main information feed the data collected by satellites developed by ESA. Data is also collected by instruments carried by aircraft, floating in the ocean, or located on the ground.

GMES provides services that can be grouped into five main categories: land management, marine environment, atmosphere, aid emergency response, and security.

There are five Sentinel missions designed as components of the GMES initiative. These missions will complement the national initiatives of the EU members involved. The missions will collect data for land and ocean monitoring, and atmospheric composition monitoring, making use of all-weather radar and optical imaging. Each of the Sentinel missions is based on a constellation of two satellites.

Sentinel-1 is an all-weather radar-imaging mission. The satellites will have polar orbits and collect data for the GMES land and ocean services. The first satellite is scheduled for launch in 2012. Sentinel-1 will ensure the continuity of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) applications, taking over from systems carried by ERS-1, ERS-2, Envisat, and Radarsat. Sentinel-1 satellites will be carried to orbit by Soyuz launch vehicles lifting off from Kourou.

Sentinel-2 will provide high-resolution multi-spectral imagery of vegetation, soil, and water, and will cover inland waterways and coastal areas. Sentinel-2 is designed for the data continuity of missions like Landsat or SPOT (Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre). Each satellite will carry a Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) that can ‘see’ in thirteen spectral bands spanning from the visible and near infrared (VNIR) to the shortwave infrared (SWIR). The first Sentinel-2 is planned to launch in 2013. Vega will provide launch services for Sentinel-2 missions.

Credits: ESA – P.Carril

Sentinel-3 will determine parameters such as sea-surface topography and sea and land surface temperature. It will also determine ocean and land colour with high accuracy. The first Sentinel-3 satellite is expected to reach orbit in 2013. The spacecraft bus has a three-meter accuracy real-time orbit determination capability based on GPS and Kalman filtering.

Sentinel-4 is devoted to atmospheric monitoring and it will consist of payloads carried by Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) satellites that are planned to launch in 2017 and 2024. Sentinel-5 will be used for atmospheric monitoring as well. The payload will be carried by a post-EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS) spacecraft, planned to launch in 2020. A Sentinel-5 precursor will ensure that no data gap will exist between the Envisat missions and Sentinel-5.

You can find out more about the GMES initiative and the Sentinel missions on a dedicated page on ESA’s website.