The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will orbit a NASA satellite to measure sea level for the next 30 years and then return to California in a spectacular landing.
- SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket’s Sentinel-6 Michael Freelich satellite explodes from California on Saturday
- It took off from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 9:17 a.m. and headed south in the direction of the Pacific Ocean.
- The rocket then launched a US-European satellite that will measure sea level rise in three decades.
- Dramatic video shows Falcon’s first phase flight back to launch site and lands full for reuse
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The European European Satellite is designed to expand the size of the global sea surface from Saturday in Earth orbit from California on Saturday.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the satellite exploded at 9:17 a.m. from Vandenberg Air Force Base and headed south toward the Pacific Ocean.
The first phase of the Falcon flew to the launch site again and landed for reuse.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was seen taking off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Saturday morning.
The rocket had a joint American-European satellite that would monitor sea level over the next three decades.
The Sentinel-6 Michael Freelich satellite came out of the second phase about an hour later.
It then deployed its solar panels and first made contact with the controllers.
Named after a former NASA official who played a key role in the development of space-based oceanography, the satellite’s main instrument is a highly accurate radar altimeter that will bounce energy from the surface of the ocean floating above the Earth’s oceans.
A similar twin, the Sentinel-6B, will be launched in 2025 to ensure record continuity.
A camera attached to the rocket shows it above a launch above Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The rocket took off and then headed south over the Pacific Ocean on Saturday morning
NASA video shows Sentinel-6 satellite Michael Freelich released into orbit above Earth
The Sentinel 6 program is made up of two identical satellites, the first of which (seen in the rendering above) will be launched on this mission, they will monitor the change in sea level from space.
Since the 1992-US-French satellite TopX-Poseidon was launched, space-based sea level measures have been uninterrupted, followed by a series of satellites, including the later Jason-3.
The heat and cooling of the water affects the altitude of the sea surface, allowing the scientist to use ultimatum data to detect weather-affected conditions such as hot El Niનોo and cold La Niનાa.
Measures to understand sea level rise due to global warming are also important as scientists warn that it poses a threat to the world’s coast and billions of people.
“Our Earth is a complex system of dynamics connected between land, sea, ice, atmosphere and of course our human communities, and that system is changing,” said Karen St. Garmin, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division. Briefing Friday.
“Because the oceans make up 0% of the Earth’s surface, the oceans play a huge role in how the whole system changes,” he said.
The new satellite is expected to have unprecedented accuracy.
The Falcon 9 rocket then made a successful landing on the launch pad for reuse
The above dramatic image shows a stage booster before returning to Bullsey Landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Saturday.
Europe and the United States are sharing 1.1 billion in missions, including two satellites
“This is a very important parameter for meteorological observation,” Joseph Ashbabaker, the European Space Agency’s director of earth observations, told the Associated Press this week.
‘We know sea levels are rising.’
The big question is, how much, how fast.
Radio signals will measure how other signals pass through the atmosphere, providing data on atmospheric temperature and humidity that can help improve global weather forecasts.
Europe and the United States are sharing મિ 1.1 billion in missions, including two satellites.
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