{"id":10563,"date":"2016-11-17T06:59:16","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T06:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revoscience.com\/en\/?p=10563"},"modified":"2016-11-17T06:59:16","modified_gmt":"2016-11-17T06:59:16","slug":"farewell-to-sentinel-2b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/farewell-to-sentinel-2b\/","title":{"rendered":"Farewell to sentinel-2B"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sentinel-2B<\/a>
Sentinel-2B in the cleanroom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just weeks before Sentinel-2B is packed up and sent to French Guiana for its launch next March, media representatives and specialists got one last look at the second satellite for Europe\u2019s Copernicus programme.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At an event held at ESA\u2019s site in the Netherlands \u2013 where the satellite has been undergoing testing since June \u2013 ESA and Airbus Defence and Space project managers gave journalists an overview of how the satellite was built and tested, and its numerous benefits.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a European satellite, built by more than 60 contractors from 15 countries,\u201d noted Michael Menking from Airbus, the prime contractor leading the industrial consortium. Twenty-nine of the companies were small- or medium-sized.<\/span><\/p>\n

Offering \u2018colour vision\u2019 for Europe\u2019s environmental monitoring Copernicus programme, Sentinel-2 combines high-resolution and novel multispectral capabilities to monitor Earth\u2019s changing lands in unprecedented detail and accuracy.<\/span><\/p>\n

[pullquote]Offering \u2018colour vision\u2019 for Europe\u2019s environmental monitoring Copernicus programme, Sentinel-2 combines high-resolution and novel multispectral capabilities to monitor Earth\u2019s changing lands in unprecedented detail and accuracy.[\/pullquote]<\/p>\n

Sentinel-2 is designed as a two-satellite constellation: Sentinel-2A and -2B. Sentinel-2A was launched on 23 June 2015 and has been providing routine imagery for the EU Copernicus Land Monitoring Service, among others. Once Sentinel-2B is launched and operational, the constellation will cover the globe every five days.<\/span><\/p>\n

Information from this mission is helping to improve agricultural practices, monitor the world\u2019s forests, detect pollution in lakes and coastal waters, and contribute to disaster mapping, to name a few. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSentinel-2B will be the fifth satellite launched for Copernicus,\u201d said Josef Aschbacher, Director of ESA\u2019s Earth Observation Programmes. \u201cThe Sentinels already in orbit are providing massive amounts of data: 6.5 petabytes so far.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile handling these data is a major challenge, the large amount being downloaded by users is testament to their worth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

More data are downloaded by Sentinels every day than are uploaded to Facebook in the form of photos.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe free and open data policy is one of the key achievements of Copernicus, and is also the key to its success,\u201d said Andras Roboz, Policy Officer for the European Commission\u2019s Copernicus unit. Sentinel-2 supports EU policies and stimulates economic growth, particularly for small businesses.<\/span><\/p>\n

But before a satellite can deliver data, it must arrive in working order in orbit. While in the Netherlands, Sentinel-2B has been subjected to the vibrations and noise of launch, undergone solar array deployment, and sat in a thermal\u2013vacuum chamber to simulate the harsh space environment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once the tests are completed, the satellite is expected to be cleared for shipping on 5 January to Europe\u2019s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At an event held at ESA\u2019s site in the Netherlands \u2013 where the satellite has been undergoing testing since June \u2013 ESA and Airbus Defence and Space project managers gave journalists an overview of how the satellite was built and tested, and its numerous benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":10564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-space-news"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Sentinel-2B_satellite_at_ESA_s_site_in_the_Netherlands_node_full_image_2.jpg",467,700,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Sentinel-2B_satellite_at_ESA_s_site_in_the_Netherlands_node_full_image_2-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Sentinel-2B_satellite_at_ESA_s_site_in_the_Netherlands_node_full_image_2-200x300.jpg",200,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Sentinel-2B_satellite_at_ESA_s_site_in_the_Netherlands_node_full_image_2.jpg",467,700,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Sentinel-2B_satellite_at_ESA_s_site_in_the_Netherlands_node_full_image_2.jpg",467,700,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Sentinel-2B_satellite_at_ESA_s_site_in_the_Netherlands_node_full_image_2.jpg",467,700,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Sentinel-2B_satellite_at_ESA_s_site_in_the_Netherlands_node_full_image_2.jpg",467,700,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Sentinel-2B_satellite_at_ESA_s_site_in_the_Netherlands_node_full_image_2.jpg",467,700,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Sentinel-2B_satellite_at_ESA_s_site_in_the_Netherlands_node_full_image_2.jpg",380,570,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Sentinel-2B_satellite_at_ESA_s_site_in_the_Netherlands_node_full_image_2.jpg",467,700,false],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Sentinel-2B_satellite_at_ESA_s_site_in_the_Netherlands_node_full_image_2.jpg",400,600,false],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Sentinel-2B_satellite_at_ESA_s_site_in_the_Netherlands_node_full_image_2.jpg",327,490,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Sentinel-2B_satellite_at_ESA_s_site_in_the_Netherlands_node_full_image_2.jpg",240,360,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Sentinel-2B_satellite_at_ESA_s_site_in_the_Netherlands_node_full_image_2.jpg",43,65,false],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Sentinel-2B_satellite_at_ESA_s_site_in_the_Netherlands_node_full_image_2.jpg",467,700,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Sentinel-2B_satellite_at_ESA_s_site_in_the_Netherlands_node_full_image_2.jpg",64,96,false],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Sentinel-2B_satellite_at_ESA_s_site_in_the_Netherlands_node_full_image_2.jpg",150,225,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Amrita Tuladhar"]},"category_info":"Space\/ AstroPhysics<\/a>","tag_info":"Space\/ AstroPhysics","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}