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.

After today’s successful launch of Sentinel-3A, EUMETSAT is preparing to exploit the Copernicus satellite on behalf of the European Union, in cooperation with ESA.

Four days after its launch on 17 January, the Jason-3 high-precision ocean altimetry satellite is delivering its first sea surface height measurement data in near-real time for evaluation by engineers from the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), EUMETSAT, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and scientists from the international Ocean Surface Topography Science Team.

The Jason-3 high-precision ocean altimetry satellite was successfully launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 19:42 CET (10:42 California time) on a Falcon 9 launcher procured by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as the acquisition agent for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).