Sentinel 3A is part of the ESA/EU Copernicus family of missions which launched from Plesetsk, Russia on 16th February at 17:57. Sentinel 3 is a multi-instrument mission to measure sea-surface topography, sea and land surface temperature, ocean colour and land colour and high-end accuracy and reliability. The mission supports ocean forecasting systems, as well as environmental; and climate monitoring.
The Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR) is one of five instruments on board which provides highly accurate measurements of global Earth surface temperatures. Data from SLSTR will continue the sea surface temperature (SST) records provided by the successful Along Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR).
STFC RAL Space scientists and engineers have played a key role in the development of the instrument design, its calibration and the definition of the data products and processing algorithms.
SLSTR has been developed through a collaboration between Selex ES (Florence), Jena Optronik, and STFC-RAL Space for the ESA/EU Copernicus Sentinel 3 Satellite led by Thales Alenia Space in Cannes.
For further information:
For more information please contact:
RAL Space Enquiries
Image:
Calibration of SLSTR at STFC. Credit: STFC RAL Space
