KOUROU (IndoTelko) - Arianespace has successfully launched the Sentinel-2B satellite for the European Commission within the scope of a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA).
The launch took place on Monday, March 6, at 10:49 p.m. local time from the Guiana Space Center (CSG), Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
This was the third launch of the year for Arianespace and the first in 2017 with the Vega light launcher. It also marked the ninth successful launch in a row for Vega, which made its debut at the Guiana Space Center in 2012.
With this latest successful launch, Arianespace once again demonstrates its commitment to sustainable development, while also carrying out its mission of guaranteeing European independent access to space.
Following the successful launches of Sentinel-1A, Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-1B, mission with Sentinel-2B marks the fourth satellite in the European Commission’s Copernicus Earth observation program to be orbited by Arianespace from the Guiana Space Center.
ESA’s Sentinel program includes six families of satellites: Sentinel-1 will ensure data continuity with the ERS and Envisat radar satellites. Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 are designed to help provide a better understanding of how climate change impacts our daily lives. Sentinel-4 and Sentinel-5 are dedicated to meteorology and climatology, with a special focus on studying the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere. Sentinel-6 will measure ocean topography, mainly for operational oceanography and climatology.
The Sentinel-2B Earth observation satellite mainly focuses on monitoring land masses and coastal zones around the world. It will be positioned in an orbit opposite that of Sentinel-2A to ensure optimum coverage and data delivery. The pair of Sentinel-2 satellites will cover the Earth’s entire surface in five days. This high frequency means they will capture brand-new views of the Earth, driving considerable progress in monitoring and predicting changes in vegetation and aquatic pollution.
Sentinel-2B combines a multispectral, wide-swath, very-high-resolution optical imaging instrument with a dedicated platform developed by Airbus, a long-standing partner to Arianespace. It is the 117th Airbus-built satellite to be launched by Arianespace. There are 16 more satellites from this manufacturer in Arianespace’s order book, not counting the OneWeb constellation.
Sentinel-2B is the 61st Earth observation satellite to be launched by Arianespace. These types of satellites represents 10% of all spacecraft launched by Arianespace since being founded, and 23% of its current order backlog (in number of satellites).
After this 55th mission for ESA, Arianespace’s order book still includes missions to orbit the following payloads on behalf of the European Space Agency:- 8 satellites for Galileo (2x4 satelites)- ADM-AEOLUS- EDRS-C- BEPI-COLOMBO- and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).With this launch on behalf of the European Commission and within the scope of an ESA contract, Arianespace fulfills its mission of guaranteeing independent and dependable access to space for Europe.
In 2017, Arianespace also will orbit four additional satellites for the Galileo program on behalf of the European Commission and ESA.
Arianespace is gearing up for the future with Vega C, slated to make its first flight as from 2019. Vega C will: Offer higher performance in terms of payload weight and volume; Handle a greater variety of missions, from nano-satellites to large optical and radar observation satellites; and Be more competitive as a result.
Shortly after the announcement that the Sentinel-2B satellite had been injected into orbit, Arianespace Chairman and CEO Stéphane Israël said: “With this third launch of the year, and the first in 2017 for our light launcher, Arianespace guarantees Europe’s independent access to space and continues to support actions in favor of sustainable development. Sentinel-2B is the fourth satellite launched by Arianespace for the European Copernicus program." (es)