The European Space agency on Monday (March 6) launched its latest satellite from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana.
The ESA said Sentinel 2-B will join its twin, Sentinel 2-A in producing high-resolution optical imaging for the European Union Copernicus environmental monitoring system.
The 2,225-lb. satellite was carried into orbit on a Vega rocket. After the first three stages of separation within six minutes of lift-off, Sentinel-2B went into the targeted Sun-synchronous orbit after separating from the rocket at 57 minutes.
ESA says that after the first launch and early orbit phase, which typically lasts three days, controllers will begin checking and calibrating the instruments to commission the satellite. The mission is expected to begin operations in three to four months.
The optical imaging Sentinel-2 mission is based on a constellation of two identical satellites: Sentinel-2A, which was launched in June 2015, and Sentinel-2B. Although launched separately, the satellites are placed in the same orbit, flying 180 degrees apart. Every five days, the satellites jointly cover all land surfaces, large islands, and inland and coastal waters between latitudes 84 degrees South and 84 degrees North, optimising global coverage and data delivery, ESA states on its website.
Each Sentinel-2 satellite carries an innovative high-resolution multispectral camera with 13 spectral bands for a new perspective of land and vegetation. The combination of high resolution, novel spectral capabilities, a field of vision covering 290 km and frequent revisit times will provide unprecedented views of Earth.
Information from this mission is helping to improve agricultural practices, monitor the world’s forests, detect pollution in lakes and coastal waters, and contribute to disaster mapping, the ESA says.
(Reuters)
