EUMETSAT supports commissioning of the Sentinel-3A satellite and prepares for handover
Following the successful completion of the Launch and Early Operations Phase of the Copernicus Sentinel-3A satellite by ESOC, EUMETSAT will start on Monday, 22 February, to support in-orbit commissioning activities.
22 October 2020
19 February 2016
The in-orbit commissioning phase is essential to ensure that the satellite, instruments and the prime functions of the ground segment perform as expected, but will also prepare for the handover of the satellite from ESA to EUMETSAT, which is foreseen for July 2016. During this phase EUMETSAT will be increasingly involved in spacecraft operations led by ESOC and will start processing Sentinel-3A data at its Sentinel-3 Marine Centre.
This phase will close in five months with the ESA In-Orbit Commissioning Review, where EUMETSAT will take over the responsibility for the control of the Sentinel-3A satellite and the operations of the payload data processing systems installed in its Sentinel-3 Marine Centre.
The operations ramp-up phase will then run for another nine months, during which EUMETSAT will progressively increase the capacity of its Marine Centre up to the level required for routine operations. During this phase, EUMETSAT will deliver Sentinel-3 sea surface temperature, ocean colour and ocean surface topography products of increasing maturity to users, capitalising on the calibration and validation programme established with ESA.
EUMETSAT will deliver, in real time, Sentinel-3 marine data and products to the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) and other users, together with additional marine products extracted from the observations of its own Meteosat and EPS/Metop missions, the cooperative Jason-3 mission and missions of its international partners (e.g. USA, China, India, Japan). This delivery will be done via EUMETCast, EUMETSAT’s satellite-based data broadcasting service, and the Sentinel-3 Online Data Access system.
Under the Copernicus data policy, all Sentinel-3 marine data and products will be available on a full, free and open basis to all users.
