LAUNCH OF SENTINEL-6 MICHAEL FREILICH SATELLITE, Nov 21, 2020, VAFB, 12:17 pm ET

Update, November 13:  The launch from VAFB is scheduled for 12:17 pm ET (9:17 am Pacific Time, local at the launch site).  NASA TV coverage begins at 11:45 am ET.

Update, November 3:  Lueders tweeted that November 21 is the new launch date.  The launch time was not specified.

Update: We now are targeting Saturday, Nov. 21, for the launch of the U.S.-European Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich ocean-monitoring satellite on a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/73x8wlYjXh

— Kathy Lueders (@KathyLueders) November 3, 2020

Update, November 1:  Kathy Lueders, head of NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, tweeted that the November 10 launch date is under review. A new date has not been set, but it will be after the scheduled November 14 launch date for Crew-1.

We will have more on Sentinel-6 after the teams complete data review on the West Coast. More to come. (2/2)

— Kathy Lueders (@KathyLueders) October 30, 2020

Original Entry: NASA will launch the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), CA on November 10, 2020 at 2:31 pm ET.

The ocean altimetry satellite is named in honor of the late Mike Freilich, an oceanographer who headed NASA’s earth science program for more than a decade. He died of cancer earlier this year.

Previously the satellite was designated Sentinel-6A.  Its twin, Sentinel-6B, is scheduled for launch in 2025.

The two-satellite Sentinel-6 project is part of the European Union’s (EU’s) Copernicus satellite earth observation program. The satellites are also are known as Jason-CS because they are the next in a series of satellites that measure sea surface height: Topex-Poseidon, Jason-1, Jason-2, and Jason-3.  They all are cooperative missions between the United States and Europe. These satellites are jointly developed by ESA, NASA, NOAA, and the European Organisation for the Exploitations of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) with financial support from the EU and the French space agency CNES.

NASA’s contributions are three science instruments for each of the two Sentinel-6 satellites: the Advanced Microwave Radiometer, the GNSS-RO, and the Laser Retroreflector Array. NASA is also contributing launch services, ground systems supporting operation of the NASA science instruments, the science data processors for two of these instruments, and support for the international Ocean Surface Topography Science Team. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) manages NASA’s contribution to the mission.