NASA shares Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite’s first data

NASA’s Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite has been around orbit and performing its checkout and calibration phase going back six months. Challenging testing complete, NASA has made the initial data collected by the satellite open to users. Both data streams will undoubtedly be available to the general public on June 22.

Sentinel-6 launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on November 21, 2020. The satellite was built by way of a US-European collaboration with the purpose of measuring sea surface height along with other key ocean statistics, including ocean surface wind speed and wave height. Among the sea surface height data streams that NASA will release is accurate to 2.3 inches.

That data will undoubtedly be available within hours of when instruments aboard the satellite collect it. The next blast of data is accurate to at least one 1.4 inches and you will be released two days after collection. NASA says the difference in once the products become available helps accuracy with delivery timeliness make it possible for tasks like weather forecasting also to help monitor the forming of hurricanes.

Additional data sets will undoubtedly be accurate to around 1.2 inches and you will be distributed later this season. The data is supposed for research activities and climate science, including tracking sea-level rise round the planet. Sentinel-6 can collect measurements for approximately 90 percent of the world’s oceans and is among a set of satellites that compose the Copernicus Sentinel-6/Jason-CS mission.

NASA plans to launch the next satellite, referred to as Sentinel-6B, in 2025. Both satellites compose the most recent in some spacecraft that started with the TOPEX/Poseidon duo in 1992 to assemble precise ocean height measurements. NASA also notes that scientists have spent time cross-calibrating data from Sentinel-6 with data gathered by Jason-3 to make sure continuity of measurements between your satellites.