CEOS EO HANDBOOK – MISSION SUMMARY - Sentinel-6 A Michael Freilich -
Full Name Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich
aka Jason-CS A, Sentinel-6 A
Status Operational (nominal)
Mission Agencies EUMETSAT, COM, ESA, NASA, NOAA Launch Date 21 Nov 2020
Mission Links mission site | data access portal EOL Date Jun 2026
EO Portal Info NORAD Catalog # 46984 (TLE)
International Designator 2020-086A
Orbit Type Inclined, non-sun-synchronous Orbit Period 112.4 minutes
Orbit Sense N/A Orbit Inclination 66.05 deg
Orbit Altitude 1343 km Orbit Longitude
Orbit LST Repeat Cycle 10 days
Objectives and Applications Sentinel-6 provides precision sea level, sea surface height, significant wave height, inland water heights and other products tailored to operational services in the ocean, climate, atmospheric and land Copernicus Services. It also provides enhanced continuity to the very stable time series of mean sea level measurements and ocean sea state after Jason-3.
Mission Measurements
CategoryParameterInstrument(s)
AtmosphereAerosols GNSS POD Receiver
Atmospheric Humidity Fields AMR-C, GNSS-RO Receiver
Atmospheric Temperature Fields GNSS POD Receiver, GNSS-RO Receiver
Gravity and Magnetic FieldsGravity, Magnetic and Geodynamic measurements GNSS POD Receiver, LRA (Sentinel-6), Poseidon-4 Altimeter
LandLandscape topography Poseidon-4 Altimeter
OceanOcean topography/currents AMR-C, Poseidon-4 Altimeter
Ocean surface winds Poseidon-4 Altimeter
Ocean wave height and spectrum Poseidon-4 Altimeter
Mission Instruments
AMR-C - Advanced Microwave Radiometer for Climate
DGXX-S - Doppler Orbitography and Radio-positioning Integrated by Satellite-New Generation XX-S
GNSS POD Receiver - Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) Precise Orbit Determination (POD) Receiver
GNSS-RO Receiver - Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS)- Radio Occultation (RO) Receiver
LRA (Sentinel-6) - Laser Retroreflector Array (Sentinel-6)
Poseidon-4 Altimeter - Poseidon-4 SAR Radar Altimeter
OpenSearch Datasets No IDN OpenSearch datasets found.

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