STEVENAGE, UK - Europe’s pollution monitoring satellite Sentinel-5 Precursor is ready to leave Airbus’ Stevenage site for launch on a Rokot rocket from Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia. Sentinel-5 Precursor is part of the global monitoring program "Copernicus", a joint European Commission-ESA undertaking which aims to acquire continuous and accurate Earth observation data and provide services to improve the management of the environment, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change and ensure civil security.
Sentinel-5 Precursor is due for launch in September 2017.
The satellite will provide essential atmospheric chemistry data to the Copernicus program before the Sentinel-5 instrument becomes operational in 2021 on the MetOp Second Generation satellite.
Airbus was prime for Sentinel-5 Precursor, with three sites involved in development and manufacturing of the satellites and its components: Stevenage (UK - prime), Toulouse (France) and Friedrichshafen (Germany).
Sentinel-5 Precursor features the TROPOMI (TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument) instrument, developed by Airbus DS Netherlands for the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Netherlands Space Office. TROPOMI will measure ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, methane and other atmospheric pollutants at a higher resolution than previous instruments. Having more accurate atmospheric data will enable improved climate models and pollutant tracking and forecasting. The MetOp Second Generation spacecraft will feature a different Sentinel 5 instrument.
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