The Sentinel-2C satellite, developed by Airbus as the third member of the Sentinel-2 series of the Copernicus program, was moved by road from the company’s main base in Friedrichshafen to Bremen on 2 July. And it is expected to be sent to the European spaceport in French Guiana in the near future.
The container carrying it was loaded onto the ship Canopée, the first sailing freighter designed to carry components of the Ariane 6 rocket. Ariane 6 rocket from European ports to the Kourou Space Center, where it is expected to arrive in two weeks.
Sentinel-2C satellite launch
According to Marc Steckling, head of Earth Observation, Science and Exploration at Airbus, about half of the data used to assess and monitor climate change is obtained from satellites. Copernicus’ Sentinel-2 satellites have provided valuable climate data since 2015, and Sentinel-2C will ensure that this work continues. In addition, these satellites have made it possible to monitor marine debris from space, a breakthrough given the severity of the problem.
The information collected by Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites is used in monitoring land use and land change, soil sealing, land management, agriculture, forestry and natural disasters such as floods, forest fires, landslides, volcanic eruptions and erosion. They are also used in humanitarian aid missions. Among other functions, environmental monitoring provides data on lake and coastal water pollution, as well as glacier, ice and snow monitoring.
The Sentinel-2 mission also contributes to food security by providing crucial information to the agricultural sector. The climate satellite is innovative in that it includes three “red edge” bands in its multispectral instrument, providing key data on vegetation conditions. This satellite makes it possible to distinguish between different types of crops and to measure various plant indices such as leaf area index, chlorophyll and leaf water content, which are essential for accurate monitoring of plant growth.
Sentinel-2C satellite versions
The new version of Sentinel-2C, similar to its predecessors Sentinel-2A and -2B, will provide “color vision” for Copernicus, the Earth Observation component of the European Union’s Space Program, creating optical images from the most visible to the short-wave infrared region of the device’s electromagnetic spectrum. From an altitude of 786 kilometers, the 1.1-ton “C” satellite will provide images in 13 spectral bands with resolutions of 10, 20 or 60 meters and a swath width of 290 kilometers. The multispectral instrument(MSI) design has been optimized to provide high image quality, transmitted via the laser-based spatial data highway(EDRS).
The telescope components, made of silicon carbide, a material pioneered by Airbus, offer very high optical stability and minimize thermoelastic deformation, resulting in exceptional geometric image quality. Each Sentinel-2 satellite collects 1.5 terabytes of data per day after onboard compression.
The Sentinel-2 mission is based on a constellation of two identical satellites, Sentinel-2A (launched in 2015) and Sentinel-2B (launched in 2017), which orbit the Earth every 100 minutes, covering all land surfaces, large islands, and inland and coastal waters every five days. Sentinel-2C will replace Sentinel-2A once in orbit, and Sentinel-2D will take Sentinel-2B’s place, ensuring data continuity beyond 2035.
Collaboration and joint development
This effort has been made possible through collaboration between the European Commission, ESA, industry, service providers and data users. Approximately 60 companies, led by Airbus Defence and Space in Germany, have participated in the development of the project.
Airbus has been a key player in the construction of satellites and instruments for Copernicus since the program’s inception in 1998, bringing its environmental expertise to the six Sentinel missions and the new next-generation Copernicus satellites: CRISTAL, LSTM and ROSE-L.
Airbus Copernicus satellites provide surveillance of the world’s oceans. Source: Airbus
The Sentinel satellites are part of the Copernicus Earth observation program, managed by the European Commission(EC) in collaboration with the European Space Agency(ESA). These satellites provide vital information for remote sensing of the Earth and operational services related to the environment and security. Pre-launch activities will be carried out in Kourou to prepare the Sentinel-2C satellite for liftoff on the latest Vega rocket, operated by Arianespace, scheduled for September.
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Source and photo: Airbus
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