After a trans-Atlantic journey on a cargo ship and a truck ride from Texas to California, the international sea level satellite Sentinel-6B arrived at a NASA facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California Aug.18. Teams from the main mission partners, NASA and ESA (European Space Agency), as well as ESA’s prime contractor Airbus, will begin final preparations for the spacecraft’s launch this fall.
Sentinel-6B’s sea surface height measurements will provide crucial information to help improve coastal planning and enable local and state governments to make informed decisions about protecting coastal infrastructure, real estate, and energy sites. Those measurements will also help improve weather predictions critical to commercial and recreational navigation. In addition, data from Sentinel-6B will help decision-makers to better safeguard coastal military installations and provide crucial information about weather and ocean conditions to the U.S. Department of Defense.