Soyuz VS07 upper composite, comprising the Fregat upper stage, payload and fairing, was transferred from the S3B integration facility to the Soyuz launch pad (ZLS), hoisted into the mobile gantry where it was integrated atop Soyuz, on 31 March 2014.
Soyuz VS07 will lift off on 3 April 2014, from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The rocket will carry Sentinel-1, the first in the family of Copernicus satellites.
This satellite will be used to monitor many aspects of our environment, from detecting and tracking oil spills and mapping sea ice to monitoring movement in land surfaces and mapping changes in the way land is used. It will also play a crucial role in providing timely information to help respond to natural disasters and assist humanitarian relief efforts.
Credit: ESA–S. Corvaja, 2014
Tags: Soyuz VS07 Sentinel-1 Sentinel-1A Copernicus Kourou Europe's Spaceport Upper Composite mating launcher
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The Sentinel-1A satellite is now fuelled. This rather hazardous operation cannot be rushed and took a week to complete. The next step is to fix the satellite to the Fregat upper stage of the Soyuz launcher and encapsulate in the rocket fairing. Launch from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana is set for 3 April at 21:02 GMT (23:02 CEST).
Credit: ESA–B. v/d Elst
Tags: Sentinel-1 Sentinel-1A Copernicus Europe's Spaceport Kourou fuelled
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Following its arrival at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, Sentinel-1C, the third satellite of the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission, is being prepared for a series of tests on its SAR antenna that will be carried out in the next weeks.
Credits: ESA
Tags: ESA European Space Agency Space Universe Cosmos Space Science Science Space Technology Tech Technology Sentinel-1C French Guiana In The Clean Room KOUROU
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Ten Sentinel-1A radar scans acquired between 7 October 2014 and 12 March 2015 were combined to create this image of ground deformation around the city of Naples, which includes the active volcanic areas of Italy’s Phlegraean Fields – or Campi Flegrei – and the Vesuvius volcano. Dark blue indicates areas that experienced an uplift of about 0.5 cm per month, while red areas show subsidence down to 0.5 per month. The purple square over the city of Naples indicates the location of the calibration point.
These preliminary results were presented at the Fringe Workshop at ESA’s ESRIN centre for Earth observation. INSARAP is a project under ESA’s Scientific Exploitation of Operational Missions (SEOM) programme.
Read full article: www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Slight_sur...
Credit: Copernicus data (2015)/ESA/DLR Microwaves and Radar Institute/INGV/e-GEOS/GFZ–SEOM INSARAP study
Tags: Campri Flegrei Copernicus Sentinel-1A Italy Naples
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This image is a composite of radar scans by Sentinel-1A on different dates of the Siljan Ring, located in the province of Dalarna in central Sweden.
Dalarna, a historical province known for its deep forests, beautiful fishing lakes and lush green landscapes, is a holiday residence for many Swedes and a favourite tourist attraction.
Sweden’s sixth largest lake, Siljan covers an area of 290 sq km. Its particular shape comes from the location around the southwestern perimeter of the Siljan Ring, a circular geological formation created almost 400 million years ago by a major meteorite impact.
Mainly eroded today, the original crater is estimated to have been some 50 km in diameter. It is the largest known impact crater in Europe and one of the 18 largest known impact craters on Earth.
Three scans of the area taken at different dates were overlaid, with different colours assigned to each: red (7 February 2015), green (15 March 2015) and blue (27 March 2015). The colours represent changes on the ground between the various acquisitions.
Given the location and the time of year, it is safe to infer that the landscape was dominated by vegetated areas, partly or completely frozen lakes and lots of snow. It is probably also safe to assume that most changes are related to variations in snow cover and snow condition.
Focusing on the Siljan Lake, towards the central right part of the image, it is easy to make out the bright red and green lines, which come from changes in the ice edge and cover on the lake, in early spring.
Southwest of the lake area, the town of Borlänge is clearly visible along the Dal River, appearing as bright white. Famous for its medieval cathedral of Stora Tuna and its important rail and bus junction, it became a commercial centre for the surrounding agricultural and industrial areas. The town has paper mills, sawmills, engineering works, foundries, printing establishments and factories.
The strikingly sharp blue to the east of Borlänge probably represents fresh snow, which fell sometime around the end of March and covered the flat agricultural fields, thus changing the ground properties.
Sentinel-1A has been in orbit since 3 April 2014. It is a polar-orbiting, all-weather, day-and-night radar imaging mission for land and ocean services, monitoring the marine environment and mapping water and soil surfaces, among other major applications.
This image is also featured on the Earth from Space video Programme.
Credit: Copernicus Sentinel data (2015)/ESA
Tags: Sweden Siljan crater Sentinel-1A Siljan Ring impact crater Earth Observation satellite image
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