EUMETSAT Annual Report 2021

EUMETSAT ANNUAL REPORT 2021
PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENT
SENTINEL-6
Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich was successfully launched
in November 2020 and began a 12-month commissioning
phase. A series of reviews found that the spacecraft and system
met requirements. In June 2021, responsibility for all the assets
necessary for the operations and exploitation of the mission, space
and ground segment elements, was handed to the Operations and
Services to Users Department.
The low-resolution near-real-time and short-time-critical
altimetry data service became operational in June 2021 and the
radio occultation near-real-time data service became operational
in August.
The in-orbit commissioning review held in November 2021
confirmed commissioning activities were complete and the
satellite’s readiness for routine operations. Low-resolution,
non-time-critical and high-resolution altimetry data became
operationally available in late November, as well as non-timecritical
radio occultation products.
The level 2 non-time-critical products service from the Radio
Occultation Meteorology Satellite Application Facility became
operational in December 2021.
SENTINEL-3C AND -3D
Preparations for the launch of Sentinel-3C, which has a launch
window of Q4 2024 to Q1 2025, and Sentinel-3D (2025 to 2028)
continued throughout 2021. The main focus was on progressing
the re-engineering of the Sentinel-3 ground segment to remove
hardware and software obsolescence and to expand its capacity
to process data from the third satellite.
The entry into operations of the re-engineered flight operations
segment for Sentinel-3A and -3B is expected in Q3 2022 and the
new payload data processing system is expected in Q4 2023. The
Sentinel-3C ground segment acceptance review will take place
shortly afterwards.
The main activity relating to the spacecraft has been the
preparation and validation of the operations preparation test
environment to support the pre-storage satellite verification tests
and the preparation for and the execution of the tests themselves.
The first satellite verification test involving EUMETSAT was
successfully performed in late September and early October.
EUMETSAT commanded the virtual engineering model with no
issues. The next test is planned for January 2022.
Artist’s impression of the Copernicus CO2M satellite in orbit (credit: OHB)
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