Sentinel-3A is a European Space Agency Earth observation satellite dedicated to oceanography which launched on 16 February 2016. It was built as a part of the

Copernicus Programme Copernicus is the European Union's Earth observation programme coordinated and managed for the European Commission by the European Union Agency for the Space Programme in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), the EU Member States. ...

, and is the first of four planned Sentinel-3 satellites. Its sister satellite, Sentinel-3B, launched on 25 April 2018. After completing initial commissioning, each satellite was handed over to

EUMETSAT The European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) is an intergovernmental organisation created through an international convention agreed by a current total of 30 European Member States. EUMETSAT's primary ...

for the routine operations phase of the mission. Two recurrent satellites - Sentinel-3C and Sentinel-3D - will follow in approximately 2024 and 2028 respectively to ensure continuity of the Sentinel-3 mission.

Mission history

In October 2015, the Sentinel-3A launch was planned for December 2015, but delays in transportation from

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. T ...

to the

Plesetsk Cosmodrome Plesetsk Cosmodrome ( rus, Космодром «Плесецк», r=Kosmodrom "Plesetsk", p=kəsmɐˈdrom plʲɪˈsʲet͡sk) is a Russian spaceport located in Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, about 800 km north of Moscow and approximately 200 ...

postponed the launch to January 2016. The spacecraft arrived at

Talagi Airport Talagi Airport ( Russian: Аэропорт Архангельск (Тала́ги) имени Ф.А. Абрамова) is an international airport serving Arkhangelsk, Russia, located 11 kilometers outside the city. In 2001 it had 105,797 passe ...

aboard an

Antonov An-124 The Antonov An-124 Ruslan (; russian: Антонов Ан-124 Руслан, , Ruslan; NATO reporting name: Condor) is a large, strategic airlift, four-engined aircraft that was designed in the 1980s by the Antonov design bureau in the Ukrain ...

on 28 November. By 17 December, Sentinel-3A completed pre-launch testing and was placed into storage for the Christmas break, lasting until 11 January 2016. After the break, launch was scheduled for 4 February, but while the spacecraft was being fuelled for launch, Khrunichev Space Center in Moscow determined that the launch pad needed to be recertified, resulting in a further delay. Launch was eventually rescheduled for 16 February.

Launch

Sentinel-3A was successfully launched on 16 February 2016 at 17:57 UTC from the

aboard a

Rokot Rokot (russian: Рокот meaning ''Rumble'' or ''Boom''), also transliterated Rockot, was a Russian space launch vehicle that was capable of launching a payload of into a Earth orbit with 63° inclination. It was based on the UR-100N (SS- ...

launch vehicle. The Briz-KM upper stage fired twice to insert the spacecraft into its intended orbit, first at 5 minutes and then at 75 minutes after launch. Spacecraft separation occurred at 79 minutes after launch, and ground controllers received the first communication from the vehicle at 92 minutes.

Operations

The first instrument switched on was OLCI. It made its first picture on 29 February 2016, capturing Svalbard island along with a part of the arctic ice pack near solar terminator.

References

External links

Sentinel-3 program website
by ESA
Sentinel-3 website
by the Copernicus Programme
Real-time orbital tracking

uphere.space
{{Use dmy dates, date=January 2016 Copernicus Programme Earth observation satellites of the European Space Agency Earth satellite radar altimeters Spacecraft launched by Rokot rockets Spacecraft launched in 2016 Oceanographic satellites

Mission history

Launch

Operations

See also

References

External links