SpaceX F9 : Sentinel-6A Michael Freilich : Vand. : Nov. 21, 2020 (17:17 UTC)

[Raul]

Launch Hazard Areas for mission 1478 Sentinel-6 MF from VAFB SLC-4E planned for Nov 21 17:17 UTC, altern. Nov 22-25 based on issued NOTMARs.
RTLS LZ-4 landing for booster 1063.1.
PLanned Stage2 debris reentry on the second orbit in south Pacific.

Something a little odd here:  Space-Track gives several TLEs for Stage 2 with the last one epoch 2208 UTC. And it gives a reentry date of Nov 22 (GMT). This is inconsistent with the NOTAM region given here.

Additionally source messages according to which planned S2 reentry should happened Nov 21 between 18:25-20:00 GMT based on FAA-NOTAM or 18:02 TO 19:50 based on NGA-NOTMAR.

ISLA DE PASCUA/ACC-FIC
NOTAM #: R0082/20      Class: International      Status: Active      Issue Date UTC: 11/20/2020 2208      Start Date UTC: 11/21/2020 1825      End Date UTC: 11/21/2020 2000
R0082/20 NOTAMN
Q) SCIZ/QRDCA/IV/BO/W/000/999/4141S11210W723
A) SCIZ B) 2011211825 C) 2011212000
E) ZONE ...D... SECT WEST PACIFIC DUE TO SPACE DEVICE
DEBRIS REENTRY. THE AREA IS BOUNDED BY GEO COORD:
5139S 10206W  4947S 10337W  4113S 11101W 3249S 11726W  3112S 11828W  3059S 11855W 3109S 11915W 4201S 11304W  5015S 10456W 5148S 10220W
INFORMATION: SANTIAGO OCEANIC 10024/6649 KHZ
FANS 1/A EQUIPPED ACFT LOGON SCEZ
F) SFC G) UNL

HYDROPAC 3371/20(18,21,22).
EASTERN PACIFIC. 
CALIFORNIA.
DNC 06, DNC 13.
1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS:
   A. 1558Z TO 1758Z DAILY 21 THRU 25 NOV
      IN AREA BOUND BY
      34-41N 120-37W, 34-40N 120-40W, 34-28N 120-39W, 34-13N 120-29W, 34-13N 120-14W, 34-19N 120-18W, 34-40N 120-18W.
   B. 1558Z TO 1758Z DAILY 21 THRU 25 NOV
      IN AREA BOUND BY
      33-47N 120-13W, 31-28N 118-54W, 31-19N 118-57W, 31-01N 118-45W, 30-51N 118-34W, 30-51N 118-17W, 31-07N 118-13W, 31-17N 118-23W, 31-26N 118-36W, 33-47N 119-59W.
   C. 1802Z TO 1950Z DAILY 21 THRU 25 NOV
      IN AREA BOUND BY
      51-39S 102-06W, 49-47S 103-37W, 41-13S 111-01W, 32-49S 117-26W, 31-12S 118-28W, 30-59S 118-55W, 31-09S 119-15W, 42-01S 113-04W, 50-15S 104-56W, 51-48S 102-20W.
2. CANCEL THIS MSG 252050Z NOV 20.//

NAVAREA XII 515/20(18,21,22).
EASTERN PACIFIC.
CALIFORNIA.
1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS:
   A. 1558Z TO 1758Z DAILY 21 THRU 25 NOV
      IN AREA BOUND BY
      34-41N 120-37W, 34-40N 120-40W, 34-28N 120-39W, 34-13N 120-29W, 34-13N 120-14W, 34-19N 120-18W, 34-40N 120-18W.
   B. 1558Z TO 1758Z DAILY 21 THRU 25 NOV
      IN AREA BOUND BY
      33-47N 120-13W, 31-28N 118-54W, 31-19N 118-57W, 31-01N 118-45W, 30-51N 118-34W, 30-51N 118-17W, 31-07N 118-13W, 31-17N 118-23W, 31-26N 118-36W, 33-47N 119-59W.
   C. 1802Z TO 1950Z DAILY 21 THRU 25 NOV
      IN AREA BOUND BY
      51-39S 102-06W, 49-47S 103-37W, 41-13S 111-01W, 32-49S 117-26W, 31-12S 118-28W, 30-59S 118-55W, 31-09S 119-15W, 42-01S 113-04W,
      50-15S 104-56W, 51-48S 102-20W.
2. CANCEL THIS MSG 252050Z NOV 20.//

And last S2 Space-Track TLE

2020-086B - 2020-11-21 22:08 UTC - 1317.53/1335.47km/66.07°

[Raul]

From sentinel6.blog
DAY SIXTY-FOUR (L+2)   NOVEMBER 23, 2020
The team was allowed to have a picture in front of the returned 1st stage….though not too close.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Photos posted by NASA Kennedy

[jacqmans]

Over to you, Eumetsat!
24/11/2020

It was a spectacular launch on 21 November, as the Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite was lifted into space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. After taking care of the Earth observation spacecraft during the critical early days and making it at home in its new environment, ESA is ready to hand over control to Eumetsat.

About an hour after a flawless launch, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich Earth separated from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, and for the first time it was flying on its own.

Soon after, ESA’s mission control in Germany received the very first signals from the fledgling mission. This vital moment, the ‘acquisition of signal’, is what teams had been waiting for, because it meant they could lock on to the satellite with ground stations across the globe and receive its ‘telemetry’ - data providing information on the mission’s health.

Of course, controlling missions is a two way conversation. We receive information about the spacecraft and all the observational data it has gathered in the signals it beams down to Earth, but we also speak to it, sending commands. Once teams at ESA’s ESOC Operations Centre had sent their first commands, it was time to declare “we have a mission!”.

“It’s always tense in the moments before we capture the first signal, until then, it's too soon to celebrate as we haven't yet taken control,” explains Jose Morales, Head of Earth observation missions at ESA.

“Once our screens lit up green, we knew that Sentinel-6 was in our hands and it is then that the real work began getting the spacecraft ready for an important life in space.”

In the days since launch, known as the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP), the flight control team at the Agency’s Operations Centre took meticulous care of the new Sentinel. These early days came with many challenges, as the new spacecraft began using its solar arrays for power, woke up to test its core functioning and performed two manoeuvres to initiate its drift towards its final, operational orbit, all the while at its most vulnerable to the hazards of space.

Now the LEOP is complete, ESA’s mission control team is handing over command and control of the satellite to Eumetsat – Europe’s weather and climate satellite organisation – who will complete the final ‘orbit acquisition’ and take on responsibility for commissioning, routine operations and distribution of the mission’s vital data.

“The critical Launch and Early Orbit Phase went smoothly and is now complete, and we are thrilled to pass on this mission to our friends at Eumetsat, who will distribute its data on Earth’s changing oceans,” explains Simon Plum, ESA’s Head of Mission Operations. “I am particularly proud of the dedication shown by everyone involved at all stages of this important mission. Their commitment has gone above and beyond expectation and truly demonstrates how seriously they take their roles.”

“It’s testament to the hard work and expertise of our teams at ESOC that in the midst of a global pandemic they continue to safely carry out some of the hardest jobs in space.”

https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Operations/Over_to_you_Eumetsat

[vaporcobra]

Some seriously incredible uninterrupted views of the launch and landing in this USAF-filmed B-roll. B1063 takes one hell of an angle of attack from reentry burn cutoff through landing burn ignition... Excerpts attached but definitely worth a full watch.

https://images.nasa.gov/details-KSC-20201121-MH-MAT01-0001-Sentinel_6_Live_Launch_Coverage_USAF_30th_SW_Isolated_Views-3263265

https://twitter.com/13ericralph31/status/1331673068066930688

[Lars-J]

Yes, that is quite impressive. But the boostback burn targets a spot off-shore, so it is during the this glide phase that the impact points is shifted over to the landing point.

The VAFB landing pad is further from the shore  (~2000 ft) than the CCAFS landing pads (~1500-1000 ft), so it makes sense that the angle of the stage would be more severe.

[Ben the Space Brit]

Question, was that 'coke bottle' shaped condensation cloud the visual echo of the sonic boom?

[kevinof]

I'm assuming the shape comes from the angle that the booster is flying (dropping) at. Instead of end on to the stream, it's coming in sideways. Shockwave from the front to the back and gives us the coke bottle shape.

Really impressive stuff.

Question, was that 'coke bottle' shaped condensation cloud the visual echo of the sonic boom?

[litton4]

Because of the exquisite weather, viewing the launch from Ocean Ave at the Floradale cross-street was actually an excellent experience. While it was certainly noticeable that we were further away (about 6.7 miles from the pad), it was much better than I expected. I haven't seen a daytime RTLS before, and I was surprised at how well I could see the falling booster after the reentry burn and before the landing burn.

Nonetheless, in the future I hope they will consider putting the roadblock back to the Union Sugar cross-street.  I wonder if someone actually did a 3-sigma safety study to justify this move, or if it was just some overly-cautious bureaucrat deciding this.

Anyone care to point to roughly where the NSF Live cameras were positioned?

During the coverage it was mentioned that it was a 1 1/2 hour trip "seriously off road" to at least one location, presumably high up somewhere......from the pictures it looked like it was somewhere NE of the launch/landing site...

[litton4]

Fantastic coverage, by the way!!!!!!

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Published on 26 Nov 2020
SpaceX successfully launched the Sentinel-6 Earth observation satellite for NASA and ESA on Nov. 21. This video is a highlight compilation of remote and tracking camera shots captured by Michael Baylor and Jay DeShetler for NASASpaceflight.com.

Edited by Michael Baylor

Article: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020/11/sentinel-6-michael-freilich-launch/

Venting - 00:00
Launch - 00:10
Approaching Max-Q - 00:54
Stage Sep - 01:15
Entry burn - 01:30
Landing - 02:00
Ultra-Wide Remote - 02:55

[catdlr]

SpaceX Sentinel 6 Launch Remix - Tracking The Booster

Nov 28, 2020
Scott Manley

While the official launch coverage was sub par, there's a marvelous tracking shot following the booster from launch through staging and back to landing,  so I mixed this with some other visuals for context, telemetry from Flight Club IO and music by Test Shot Starfish.

[jacqmans]

For Sentinel-6 updates see:

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=52513.msg2165158#new

[vaporcobra]

Apologies if I missed this upthread but SpaceX published an unlisted Sentinel 6A launch and landing video on its "Reusability" YouTube playlist.

[Irelae]

I just posted here as my first post but it doesn't look like it actually posted. In all honesty, I'm very new here and am not sure how this all works.

I don't feel like writing the three paragraphs again so to sum up what I said: I got a video of the launch from my iPhone through a 6-inch reflector telescope, all the way up to fairing separation. Though the launch was months ago, I'm excited to share it with you guys:



It's not the best, I arrived minutes before launch and about 3 minutes to get everything set up right. I mistakenly left autofocus on, the exposure was a little high, and I didn't have enough time to balance the focus between my phone camera and telescope, resulting in a large dark spot in the middle of the view.

[Steven Pietrobon]

Recommend you also set your phone to landscape mode for your next attempt.

https://www.macworld.com/article/2987101/how-to-turn-off-or-turn-on-landscape-mode-on-the-iphone-6-plus-and-6s-plus-home-screen.html

https://www.wikihow.com/Switch-to-Portrait-or-Landscape-Mode-on-Android

[Rondaz]

New sea-level monitoring satellite goes live.

21/06/2021

Following liftoff last November and more than six months spent carefully calibrating the most advanced mission dedicated to measuring sea-level rise, Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich is now operational – meaning that its data are available to climate researchers, ocean-weather forecasts and other data users.

Sentinel-6 is one of the European Union’s family of Copernicus missions but its implementation is the result of an exceptional cooperation between the European Commission ESA, Eumetsat, NASA and NOAA, with contribution from the CNES French space agency. The mission comprises two identical satellites launched five years apart: Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich launched on 21 November 2020 and Copernicus Sentinel-6B, which will be launched in 2025.

Sea-level rise is a key indicator of climate change so accurately monitoring the changing height of the sea surface over decades is essential for climate science, for policy-making and, ultimately, for protecting the lives of those in low-lying regions at risk.

Using the latest radar altimetry technology, developed by ESA, this new mission will advance the long-term record of sea-surface height measurements that began in 1992 by the French–US Topex-Poseidon satellite and then the Jason series of satellite missions.

Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich will soon pick up the baton and extend this dataset – a dataset that is the ‘gold standard’ for climate studies.

Julia Figa Saldana, ocean altimetry programme manager at Eumetsat, said, “We have been flying Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich on the same orbit as the current altimetry reference mission, Jason-3, for the past six months so that the satellites have the same ‘view’ of the ocean.

“Experts from around the world have collaborated intensively over the past six months, despite the workplace constraints caused by the coronavirus pandemic, to cross-calibrate their data to ensure accuracy. The data are now being processed at Eumetsat in Darmstadt, Germany, from where the satellite is also being controlled, and from where the data are released to ocean and weather forecasting users.”

Craig Donlon, ESA’s Sentinel-6 mission scientist, said, “Building on a long line of European heritage dual-frequency altimeter missions, Sentinel-6’s Poseidon-4 altimeter was designed to bring new high-resolution Ku- band synthetic aperture radar measurements into the altimetry reference time series.

“To manage the transition from Jason-3’s lower resolution measurements to Sentinel-6’s high-resolution products with confidence, Poseidon-4 acquires both conventional low-resolution measurements simultaneously with high-resolution synthetic aperture radar measurements. The high-resolution products will be available later this year. We are really pleased to see that the data from Sentinel-6 show great performance based on validation by independent measurements on the ground.”

The Permanent Facility for Altimetry Calibration on the island of Crete in Greece is home to a transponder (CND1) that is key to this validation, ensuring that Sentinel-6’s low-resolution data are the same as that of Jason-3. The transponder receives the Sentinel-6 radar signal, which is amplified and transmitted back to the satellite providing a well-characterised external calibration source.

Dr Donlon explained, “Measurements from the CDN1 transponder show that the absolute difference between measurements from Sentinel-6 and Jason-3 is less than 2 mm, which is remarkable for two independent satellites operating at an altitude of 1330 km.

“Establishing the differences between Sentinel-6 and Jason-3 is important if stability in the sea-level rise time series from satellite altimetry is to be maintained with low uncertainties.”

Nadya Vinogradova-Shiffer, NASA program scientist for Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, said, “The release of this data marks the beginning of a new Sentinel era of ocean satellite altimetry for the NASA science community and the international Ocean Surface Topography Science Team, who are excited, ready, and eager to expand nearly three decades of discoveries in ocean and climate science.”

As of 22 June 2021, two data streams of low-resolution sea-surface height are available to the public. The first is available within hours of Sentinel-6’s Poseidon-4 altimeter collecting it and the second stream comes a couple of days after it is acquired. The difference in when the products become available balances accuracy with delivery timeliness for tasks like forecasting the weather or helping to monitor the formation of hurricanes.

The third data stream, which is slated for distribution later this year or early next year, will be the most accurate.

European Commission’s Director for Space, Matthias Petschke, said, “Preparing our resilience and adapting to sea-level rise as an effect of climate change is a top priority in the decades to come, as part of the European Green Deal. From scenarios published in 2015 for Cop21, we can observe that the sea-level rise phenomenon is accelerating faster than expected. It will affect our EU coasts in decades to come, this is a certainty, and this is critical for some European countries.

“Jason missions, in the past, and now Copernicus Sentinel-6, are unique solutions to give us accurate information on this trend, observing and monitoring it accurately, as well revealing this alarming acceleration of the rise.”

https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sentinel-6/New_sea-level_monitoring_satellite_goes_live