SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched the Sentinel-6B satellite into orbit, designed to monitor rising sea levels. The launch took place on the night of November 17, local time, from the spaceport at the Vandenberg Space Force base in California.
The launch was carried out exactly on schedule – at 21:21:42 Pacific time (05:21 UTC). The satellite successfully separated from the second stage 57 minutes after launch and began autonomous flight.
Sentinel-6B became the second vehicle in an international program costing more than $1 billion, in which the costs are equally shared by the United States and Europe. The project involves NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the European Commission and the French Space Agency CNES.
The satellite, manufactured by Airbus Defense and Space in Germany, will operate in an orbit at an altitude of 1336 km and use a high-precision radar to measure sea level with an accuracy of a few centimeters by 90%. surface of the oceans.
The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket (tail number B1097) made its third flight and successfully returned to the launch pad. The mission was the 500th flight of the previously used Falcon 9 first stage.
Despite adverse weather conditions on the West Coast of the United States, Space Force meteorologists gave the green light for the launch. The probability of violating weather restrictions was estimated at 60%.
The launch of Sentinel-6B took place exactly five years after the launch of its twin satellite Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich from the same site SLC-4E.