Sentinel 3

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Sentinel 3 is a future space mission from ESA, the third in the GMES program. It will provided medium resolution optical and radar altimetry Earth observation data. It is design for data continuity of ERS and Envisat missions, with coverage and instrument performance improvements. A launch date around 2012 is foreseen.


[edit] Mission characteristics

  • Role: Earth Observation
  • Launch date: 2012
  • Launch mass: ~1250 kg
  • Launcher: Vega or Soyuz/Kourou
  • Launch location: French Guiana
  • Orbit: Sun-synchronous
  • Altitude: 800 km
  • Orbit cycle: ~100 minutes
  • Nominal duration: 7.25 years

[edit] Instruments

  • Ocean and Land Colour Instrument
  • Sea and Land Surface Temperature Instrument
  • Radar Altimeter
  • Microwave Radiometer
  • GNSS receiver
  • Laser retroflector

[edit] Applications

  • Sea and land colour data
  • Sea and land surface temperature
  • Sea surface topography data