{"id":15726,"date":"2016-02-15T19:30:41","date_gmt":"2016-02-15T11:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/photos-sentinel-3a-prepared-for-liftoff\/"},"modified":"2016-02-15T19:30:41","modified_gmt":"2016-02-15T11:30:41","slug":"photos-sentinel-3a-prepared-for-liftoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/photos-sentinel-3a-prepared-for-liftoff\/","title":{"rendered":"Photos: Sentinel 3A prepared for liftoff"},"content":{"rendered":"

Europe\u2019s Sentinel 3A satellite, designed for real-time surveys of the world\u2019s oceans, ice sheets, lakes and rivers, is attached to a decommissioned Russian nuclear missile for launch Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The 2,526-pound (1,146-kilogram) spacecraft is fitted inside the nose cone of a 95-foot-tall (29-meter) Rockot launcher at Complex 133 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, a military facility in Russia\u2019s Far North.<\/p>\n

The Rockot\u2019s booster stages come from a retired SS-19 missile originally developed to deliver nuclear warheads to targets around the world. A Breeze KM upper stage fastened atop the Rockot will deploy Sentinel 3A into orbit for the European Space Agency and the European Commission, beginning a mission of at least seven years to measure sea level changes, ice sheets, ocean and land color, and marine biology.<\/p>\n

The photos below chronicle Sentinel 3A\u2019s attachment Feb. 7 to the Rockot launcher\u2019s Breeze KM upper stage, which will fire its main engine twice to inject the satellite into a 500-mile-high (800-kilometer) orbit. The images also show the satellite\u2019s encapsulation inside the Rockot\u2019s payload fairing Feb. 8, the signatures of ground teams on the exterior of the nose shroud, and the transfer of the spacecraft composite to the launch pad via locomotive Feb. 12.<\/p>\n

The payload package was then hoisted into the mobile gantry surrounding the Rockot booster and attached to the rocket\u2019s second stage. Russian teams next removed a layer of thermal insulation from the payload fairing for liftoff.<\/p>\n

The payload fairing protects Sentinel 3A during the final steps of its launch campaign, and it shields the satellite from contaminants and aerodynamic pressure during the early phases of launch. The two halves of the nose cone will jettison from the rocket once it reaches space about three minutes into the mission.<\/p>\n

Ground crews from Russia, the European Space Agency and satellite builder Thales Alenia Space are participating in the Sentinel 3A launch campaign. The Russian military\u2019s strategic missile forces will oversee the Rockot\u2019s final launch preparations.<\/p>\n

Liftoff is set for 1757 GMT (12:57 p.m. EST) Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\"Credit:
Credit: ESA\u2013Stephane Corvaja, 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: ESA\u2013Stephane Corvaja, 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: ESA\u2013Stephane Corvaja, 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: ESA\u2013Stephane Corvaja, 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: ESA\u2013Stephane Corvaja, 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: ESA\u2013Stephane Corvaja, 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: ESA\u2013Stephane Corvaja, 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: ESA\u2013Stephane Corvaja, 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: ESA\u2013Stephane Corvaja, 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: ESA\u2013Stephane Corvaja, 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: ESA\u2013Stephane Corvaja, 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: ESA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: ESA\u2013Stephane Corvaja, 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: ESA\u2013Stephane Corvaja, 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: ESA\u2013Stephane Corvaja, 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: ESA\u2013Stephane Corvaja, 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: ESA\u2013Stephane Corvaja, 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: ESA\u2013Stephane Corvaja, 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: ESA\u2013Stephane Corvaja, 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: ESA\u2013Stephane Corvaja, 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: ESA\u2013Stephane Corvaja, 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Europe\u2019s Sentinel 3A satellite, designed for real-time surveys of the world\u2019s oceans, ice sheets, lakes and rivers, is attached to a decommissioned Russian nuclear missile for launch Tuesday. The 2,526-pound (1,146-kilogram) spacecraft is fitted inside the nose cone of a 95-foot-tall (29-meter) Rockot launcher at Complex 133 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, a military facility in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2408,1805,159,2974,1060,831,1969,2500],"class_list":["post-15726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-breeze-km","tag-copernicus","tag-earth-observation","tag-eurockot","tag-european-commission","tag-european-space-agency","tag-khrunichev","tag-oceanography"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15726"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15726\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}