Last look at second 'colour vision' satellite

Media are invited to see this state-of-the-art satellite in the cleanroom before being packed up and shipped to French Guiana for its spring launch. Project managers and specialists will explain how the Sentinel-2 mission is improving our ability to monitor the health of Earth's vegetation and track changes in the way land is used.

Offering 'colour vision' for Europe's environmental monitoring Copernicus programme, Sentinel-2 combines high-resolution and novel multispectral capabilities to monitor Earth's changing lands in unprecedented detail and accuracy.

Sentinel-2 is designed as a two-satellite constellation: Sentinel-2A and -2B. Sentinel-2A was launched on 23 June 2015 and has been providing routine imagery for the EU Copernicus Land Monitoring Service, among others. Once Sentinel-2B is launched and operational, the constellation will offer a global revisit every five days.

Information from this mission is helping to improve agricultural practices, monitor the world's forest, detect pollution in lakes and coastal waters, and contribute to disaster mapping, to name a few.

The satellite was built by an industrial consortium led by prime contractor Airbus Defence and Space in Friedrichshafen, Germany.

Sentinel-2B will be launched in spring 2017 on a Vega rocket from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

The 15 November press event and visit to the cleanroom at ESTEC in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, will include briefings by representatives from ESA, Airbus DS, application specialists and the European Commission

Programme

10:30 Welcome and Introduction
Josef Aschbacher
ESA's director of Earth observation programmes

Andras Roboz
Policy officer, Copernicus unit,
European Commission

Michael Menking
VP Earth Observation, Navigation and Science, Airbus DS, Germany

10:50 Sentinel-2B status and progress
Francois Spoto

ESA Sentinel-2 Project Manager
Gunn Schweickert

Sentinel-2 Satellite Project Manager,
Airbus Defence & Space, Germany

11:05 Data use and application examples from Sentinel-2A and the future with Sentinel-2B
Chris Steenmans
European Environment Agency

Bianca Hoersch
ESA Sentinel-2B mission manager

11:30 Question & Answers

12:00 Visit to ESA test centre & cleanroom

13:00 Buffet lunch & interview possibilities