This Satellite Will Bring The Most Accurate Climate Data We’ve Ever Had

This Satellite Will Bring The Most Accurate Climate Data We’ve Ever Had

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will soon be taking a historic satellite into orbit that could help us understand how climate change is affecting our seas.

For nearly 30 years, a host of U.S.-European satellites have been working together to gather climate data which has been instrumental in tracking big changes in climate phenomena like El Nino or monitoring ocean features like the Gulf Stream. But these satellites couldn’t capture tiny changes in these environments. And this is where Sentinel-6 mission comes in.

It’s part of the EU’s Copernicus program, the world’s largest Earth monitoring system, which has worked to measure the environment and the role human-caused climate change is having on it.

The mission is made up of two identical satellites: Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich which takes off in November 2020, and Sentinel-6B that launches in 2025.

It’s an international effort between NASA, the European Space Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, and France’s National Centre for Space Studies.