SpaceX launches ocean mapping satellite for NASA and Europe

Suara.com – The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched an orbiting sea mapping satellite for NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) on Saturday (11/21/2020) from the Space Launch Complex 4E runway at Vandenberg Air Base, in California.

Reporting from Space.comOn Monday (11/23/2020), the rocket carried the payload of Michael Freilich’s Sentinel-6 satellite, developed by the US and European space and weather agencies.

The name of Michael Freilich’s Sentinel-6 satellite is taken from Michael Freilich, a former head of NASA’s Earth Sciences Division who died of cancer last August. NASA and ESA named the satellite in January before his death.

Made by Airbus in Germany, the $ 97 million satellite, the size of a small truck and carrying many instruments, detects sea level changes down to a few centimeters.

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To measure sea level, it would emit an electromagnetic signal into the global oceans and measure how long it would take to recover.

The mission scientists explain that sea level rise is only a consequence of climate change, and data from previous Earth observation satellites suggests that the rate of sea level rise is accelerating, so scientists want to be in able to monitor it for a longer period of time.

NASA plans to launch another similar satellite called Sentinel-6B in 2025. The satellites will continue NASA’s three decades of effort to document sea level rise and provide scientists with a more accurate view of the coast than ever.

With data collected by Sentinel-6, scientists around the world will be able to make higher resolution ocean observations closer to the coast. This means that a more accurate forecast can be found before the storm hits.

The data collected can also be used to determine how changes in sea level near the coast may affect vessel navigation and commercial fishing.

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