NASA Covers Launch of Global Ocean Tracking Mission

In this artist's concept, the ocean-observing satellite Sentinel-6B orbits Earth with its deployable solar panels extended.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA will provide live coverage of prelaunch and launch activities for Sentinel-6B, an international mission delivering critical sea level and ocean data to protect coastal infrastructure, improve weather forecasting, and support commercial activities at sea.

Launch is targeted at 12:21 a.m. EST, Monday, Nov. 17 (9:21 p.m. PST, Sunday, Nov. 16) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Watch coverage beginning at 11:30 p.m. EST (8:30 p.m. PST) on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and more. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

The Sentinel-6B mission continues a decades-long effort to monitor global sea level and ocean conditions using precise radar measurements from space. Since the early 1990s, satellites launched by NASA and domestic and international partners have collected precise sea level data. The launch of Sentinel-6B will extend this dataset out to nearly four decades.

NASA's mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):

Saturday, Nov. 15

4 p.m. - NASA Prelaunch Teleconference on International Ocean Tracking Mission

  • Karen St. Germain, director, Earth Science Division, NASA Headquarters in Washington
  • Pierrik Veuilleumier, Sentinel-6B project manager, ESA
  • Parag Vaze, Sentinel-6B project manager, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California
  • Tim Dunn, senior launch director, Launch Services Program, NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida
  • Julianna Scheiman, director, NASA Science Missions, SpaceX
  • 1st Lt. William Harbin, launch weather officer, U.S. Air Force

Audio of the teleconference will stream on the NASA Video YouTube channel.

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