In this special edition, ESA's Sentinel-3 Payload Manager Constantin Mavrocordatos and Spacecraft and Launch Campaign Manager Kristof Gantois join the show to tell us more about the Sentinel-3A satellite and its mission, at Thales Alenia Space in Cannes, France.
Sentinel-3A is currently being prepared for launch from the Russian Cosmodrome of Plesetsk on 4 February 2016. Read more in the launch campaign blog: blogs.esa.int/eolaunches/
More about Sentinel-3:
www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Obs...
Fantastic! Hope all goes smoothly.
Thanks for answering :)
I have a lot of catching up to do, any specific reason as to why this satellite wasn't launched from kourou?
+Gary Sentinel-3A is launching on Rockot from Plesetsk, but Sentinel-3B will launch on Vega from Kourou. The same is true for Sentinel-2 (the otherway around though: -A was on Vega & -B will be on Rockot). They are compatible with both launchers. This is because years ago when the launch contracts were issued they needed Rockot as an alternative in case the new Vega launcher wasn't ready. As it turned out, Vega was ready but they still go with Rockot for one of the units - this will be down to contracts and launch manifests. Sentinel-1 by the way is too big - so goes on Soyuz.