Stevenage – Europe’s pollution monitoring satellite Sentinel-5 Precursor is ready to leave Airbus’ Stevenage site for launch on a Rokot rocket from Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia.

Sentinel-5 Precursor is part of the global monitoring programme “Copernicus”, a joint European Commission–ESA undertaking which aims to acquire continuous and accurate Earth observation data and provide services to improve the management of the environment, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change and ensure civil security.

 

Sentinel-5 Precursor will provide essential atmospheric chemistry data to the Copernicus programme before the Sentinel-5 instrument becomes operational in 2021 on the MetOpSecond Generation satellite.

 

Airbus was prime for Sentinel-5 Precursor, with three sites involved in development and manufacturing of the satellites and its components: Stevenage (UK – prime), Toulouse (France) and Friedrichshafen (Germany).