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SpaceX’s launch on Saturday may be a small step for a company that is making increasingly regular trips to orbit, but the payload from the latest mission represents a giant leap for climate studies here on Earth.
The launch itself was a success in all respects. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket took off from a launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Saturday morning, shortly after 9:00 PT. The weather was beautiful and the launch happened on schedule, as you can see in the video below.
The first stage of the Falcon 9 split minutes after launch. This particular SpaceX rocket is partially reusable, so the first stage returned to earth unscathed, with a controlled descent and perfect landing that drew applause from observers.
But again, it’s the payload that matters. This Falcon 9 carried NASA’s Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite into orbit. It is the first step in a two-phase mission that will provide researchers with more real-time data about a planet undergoing significant climate change.
The real Dr. Michael Freilich after whom the satellite is named was a former director of NASA’s Earth Science Division. According to the space agency fact sheet, it was Freilich who kicked off the idea of researching oceanography from space.
This initial launch will initiate the ongoing mission to study Earth’s climate change, although a second identical Sentinel-6 satellite will be launched in 2025. Those two satellites together will eventually form a power pair, but Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich will be difficult at work even during the five years he spends alone in flight.
According to NASA, the Sentinel-6 satellites will offer better coastal monitoring than we’ve had before, with more accurate information on sea level changes. That research will also be packed with more data, giving researchers an even better understanding of the forces driving these changes.
Sentinel-6 will also build on the existing network of satellites in orbit, reading their radio signals as they pass through Earth’s atmosphere. This will allow the measurement of “minimal changes in atmospheric density, temperature and moisture content”.
The net result of all this research is expected to lead to improvements in our Earth weather forecasts, including better monitoring of hurricane formation and movement across the planet. Given the dangerously record hurricane season of 2020, this is encouraging news for our increasingly storm-ravaged planet.
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