THE SENTINEL-3 MISSION OVERVIEW

摘要

ESA is currently implementing the Sentinel-3 mission [3], [4] as part of the European Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program. It is designed as a constellation of two identical polar orbiting satellites, separated by 180 deg, for the provision of longterm operational marine and land monitoring services. These services include the generation of land and ocean colour products, sea and land surface temperature, vegetation products and sea, ice and land surface topography. The first satellite has a planned launch in late 2013 and will provide valuable information for scientists and policy makers in the European Union and its Member States for the next decade. The operational character of this mission implies a high level of availability of the data products and fast delivery time, which have been important design drivers for the mission.