Feb. 02, 2016

Media representatives are invited to the Salons Hoche event venue in Paris for the signing of a contract between ESA and Thales Alenia Space to build two more satellites for the Sentinel-3 mission.
The signing, to be held on 9 February at 17:00 CET, will ensure the continuation of the Sentinel-3 satellite series for Europe’s Copernicus environmental programme.
Sentinel-3 is based on a constellation of two satellites: Sentinel-3A and -3B. With the first set for launch in February and its sister planned for launch in 2017, the mission will provide a ‘bigger picture’ for Copernicus with optimum global coverage and data delivery.

While Thales Alenia Space of France has been leading a consortium of more than 100 companies to build the first two units, the €450 million contract to be signed in Paris will begin the development of Sentinel-3C and -3D.
Sentinel-3 carries a series of cutting-edge instruments for systematic measurements of Earth’s oceans, land, ice and atmosphere.
Over oceans, Sentinel-3 measures the temperature, colour and height of the sea surface as well as the thickness of sea ice. These measurements will be used, for example, to monitor changes in sea level, marine pollution and biological productivity.

Over land, this innovative mission will monitor wildfires, map the way land is used, provide indices of vegetation state and measure the height of rivers and lakes, complementing the high-resolution measurements of its Sentinel-2 sister mission.
The Paris event will provide media representatives with the opportunity to speak with key players in ESA and the Sentinel-3 mission, including ESA Director General Jan Woerner, Director of ESA’s Earth Observation Programmes Volker Liebig and Copernicus Space Segment Programme Manager Guido Levrini.
Representatives from the European Commission, Thales Alenia Space and France’s CNES space agency will also be present.
The Salons Hoche is located at 9 Avenue Hoche in Paris; the event will be taking place in Room Longchamp.