Sentinel 1 Lifts Off

[Jim Hunt]

According to the European Space Agency:

The Sentinels, a new fleet of ESA satellites, are poised to deliver the wealth of data and imagery that are central to Europe’s Copernicus programme.

Regarding the Cryosphere they add that:

Sentinel-1 provides radar images to generate timely maps of sea-ice conditions for safe passage in our increasingly busy Arctic waters.

The radar can distinguish between the thinner, more navigable first-year ice and the hazardous, much thicker multiyear ice to help assure safe year-round navigation in ice-covered Arctic and sub-Arctic zones. These radar images are particularly suited to generating high-resolution ice charts, monitoring icebergs and forecasting ice conditions.

Here's an ESA video of the launch of Sentinel-1A on April 3rd 2014:



Here's another ESA video explaining "Why we need radar satellites":
 

[ghoti]

Will the imagery be available to the public without outrageous charges? I get extremely angry when I think of Radarsat which was paid for by Canadian taxpayers but the imagery is only available for huge fees. A classic public-private partnership scam. I hope and expect Europe to handle this much better.

[crandles]

Will the imagery be available to the public without outrageous charges? I get extremely angry when I think of Radarsat which was paid for by Canadian taxpayers but the imagery is only available for huge fees. A classic public-private partnership scam. I hope and expect Europe to handle this much better.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26840472

So, the EU requires a space dimension to function properly. But Brussels also sees an enterprise opportunity here as well.

It believes space is a domain that can generate significant wealth.

You may have a quizzical look then when you learn that all of the data acquired by the Sentinels will be given away for free, without restriction, to anyone, even if they're outside the EU. And it's a colossus volume - more than eight terabytes a day of processed data when the mature Sentinel constellation is up and running.

But research has concluded that unfettered access will more likely stimulate novel ways to use the data, resulting in the emergence of many more companies, selling new services. For example, more timely radar data from space could soon result in flood forecasting. That is, not merely using the images to see which areas have flooded but using them in smart models to predict which areas will flood next.

A good many of these "value added" services - you can imagine - will end up as apps on citizens' smartphones.

Lets hope that doesn't change.

[Jim Hunt]

Will the imagery be available to the public without outrageous charges?

I'm already signed up for early access to what sounds as though it will be free of charge "open data":

https://senthub.esa.int/

[Jim Hunt]

ESA have released another video. This one shows the Sentinel-1A satellite separating from the Soyuz Fregat upper stage.  Sentinel is now in a Sun-synchronous orbit at 693 km altitude:

[Jim Hunt]

Pine Island and Thwaites Glaciers as seen from on high by Sentinel-1A:

Acquired on 13 April 2014 at 09:03 GMT (11:03 CEST) this image covers parts of Pine Island Glacier  and Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica. This image is among the first from Sentinel-1A, which was launched on 3 April. It was acquired in ‘Interferometric Wide Swath’ mode with a swath width of 250 km and in single polarisation. With Pine Island Glacier in a state of irreversible retreat, the Sentinel-1 mission is set to be an excellent tool for monitoring such glaciers as well as for providing timely information on many other aspects of the polar regions, such as sea ice and icebergs.

[Jim Hunt]

It seems Sentinel-1A has narrowly avoided a collision with some "space debris". According to a blog post on the ESA web site:

At the end of the first day after the launch (4 April): all deployments have been executed during the night and completed early in the morning at the beginning of the first ‘day shift’. As the first day shift nears its end, a serious alert is received: there is a danger of a collision with a NASA satellite called ACRIMSAT, which has run out of fuel and can no longer be manoeuvred. Not much information at the beginning, we are waiting for more information, but a collision avoidance manoeuvre may be needed.  ‘Are you kidding? A collision avoidance manoeuvre during LEOP? This has never been done before, this has not been simulated!’

[DoomInTheUK]

Lucky old Sentinel-1A.

Hopefully it won't see anything else for a while, but (with my pessimistic hat on) the last date I saw for being a better than 50% chance of a Kessler syndrome was 2015.

It's getting awfully crowded up there.

[icefest]

Hopefully it won't see anything else for a while, but (with my pessimistic hat on) the last date I saw for being a better than 50% chance of a Kessler syndrome was 2015.

So you mean that each year after 2015 has a 50% chance of Kessler syndrome occurring?

[TerryM]

The Gravity of the situation (at least at the cinema) is enormous


Terry

[DoomInTheUK]

So you mean that each year after 2015 has a 50% chance of Kessler syndrome occurring?

Given the rate at which stuff goes up compared to the rate it comes down again, ITIRC that the total volume of junk hits the 50% probability of the syndrome occuring in 2015. Each year after that there is more junk and only the same amount of space for it to be in.

There have already been a couple of collisions, but luckily no cascade has developed - so far. It really is only a matter of time though if we keep sending stuff up there at the rate we are.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Sentinel1 doesn't last long enough to see an essentially ice free Arctic summer, and I'm not talking about an ice recovery either!

[Jim Hunt]

According to the European Space Agency:

Following liftoff on 25 April from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, Sentinel-1B has opened its large solar wings and radar antenna.

Sentinel-1B joined its identical twin, Sentinel-1A, in orbit to benefit numerous services such as monitoring Arctic sea ice and oil spills, mapping for forest, water and soil management, monitoring land for motion risks, and mapping to support humanitarian aid and crisis response.

The pair covers the whole planet every six days for services that are providing a step change in the way our environment is managed.

Here's a video of the liftoff of the second half of the Sentinel 1 pair 2 days ago: