NASA is targeting Saturday, 21 November 2020 for the launch of the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite, the first of two identical satellites to head into Earth orbit five years apart to continue sea level observations for at least the next decade.
The Sentinel-6/Jason-CS mission is part of Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth observation program, managed by the European Commission. Continuing the legacy of the Jason series missions, Sentinel-6/Jason-CS will extend the records of sea level into their fourth decade, collecting accurate measurements of sea surface height for more than 90% of the world’s oceans, and providing crucial information for operational oceanography, marine meteorology, and climate studies. For Jason series missions data archived at PO.DAAC, please visit Topex/Poseidon, Jason-1, OSTM/Jason-2, and Jason-3 PO.DAAC mission pages. For more information about the upcoming Nov 21st Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich launch and the mission, see the original NASA’s press release.
PO.DAAC, being the premier NASA data center for measurements focused on ocean surface topography, ocean temperature, ocean winds, salinity, gravity, and ocean circulation, will play an important role in archiving and distributing the mission's vital data.
PO.DAAC Operations will be part of mission critical support activities related to launch support and first light product delivery. At launch, PO.DAAC will be supporting the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich team during their calibration and validation activities, enabling data ingest and archive for ancillary/auxiliary data products and level 0 data products, as well as access to this initial set of data. One unique aspect is that for the first time, PO.DAAC will be archiving new NASA Earth observations mission data directly into a cloud environment. Once validation of the data products is complete, PO.DAAC will distribute data to the general public and integrate data products into transformation, visualization, and analysis tools. More information regarding the Sentinel-6 mission and instrumentation is available from PO.DAAC’s Sentinel-6 Michael Frielich mission page, or Related Links below.
Data Release schedule:
- Public release of near real-time (NRT) and Short-time Critical (STC) products expected May 2021
- Public release of Non-Time Critical (NTC)(Validated) expected September 2021
Related Links:
- JPL press release
- NASA TV media release
- NASA Invites Public to Virtually Follow Launch of Ocean-Monitoring Satellite Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich
Mission Sites: