Rockot To Launch 2 ESA Sentinel Craft

摘要

The German-Russian Eurockot Launch Services joint venture announced Feb. 9 it will launch two European environment-monitoring satellites aboard Russian Rockot vehicles under contracts with the European Space Agency (ESA). The launches, from northern Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome, will carry the Sentinel 2A and Sentinel 3A satellites into polar low Earth or- bit, with the first of the two launches to occur no earlier than late 2013. The 19-nation ESA is managing development of die Sentinel series of Earth observation satellites as part of die Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program funded joindy widi the European Commission.