New Generation Ocean Monitoring Satellite Jointly Developed by US and Europe Launched

A new generation ocean monitoring satellite jointly developed by NASA and the European Space Agency was launched on the evening of the 16th, US Western Time.

NASA's live broadcast showed that at 21:21 US Western Time on the 16th (13:21 Beijing Time on the 17th), the satellite named "Sentinel-6B" was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA.

According to NASA, Sentinel-6B will operate in an orbit more than 1,300 kilometers above Earth, traveling at a speed of 7.2 kilometers per second and completing one orbit around the Earth approximately every 112 minutes. The satellite and its six scientific instruments are planned to operate in orbit for about five and a half years, continuously collecting data on sea-level rise trends and their impact on Earth. After completing cross-calibration of data with its "sister" satellite—the "Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich" launched in November 2020—Sentinel-6B will take over from the latter, continuing the decades-long mission of sea-level monitoring from space.

NASA stated that the sea-level and atmospheric observation data collected by the mission will help enhance public safety and urban planning capabilities, protect coastal infrastructure, and improve weather forecasting and hurricane prediction, among other applications. NASA will also use this data to refine atmospheric models to support the safe re-entry into Earth's atmosphere for astronauts participating in the future US Artemis lunar exploration program.