SpaceX launched a strong ocean-mapping satellite tv for pc from California early Monday morning (Nov. 17) on a landmark flight — the corporate’s five hundredth orbital mission with a used rocket.
The Sentinel-6B spacecraft lifted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Area Drive Base on Monday at 12:21 a.m. EDT (0521 GMT; 9:21 p.m. on Nov. 16 native California time).
SpaceX highlighted the reuse milestone in a post on X, as did firm president and chief working officer Gwynne Shotwell.
“Congratulations to the SpaceX staff on finishing 500 (!!!!) missions with flight-proven rocket boosters. You’ve made the inconceivable potential with reusable rockets, paving the best way to land big quantities of cargo and many folks to determine everlasting human presence on the moon and beyond with Starship!” Shotwell wrote.
The absolutely reusable Starship is the largest and strongest rocket ever constructed. SpaceX is growing it to assist get humanity to the moon and Mars, amongst different feats. Starship has launched 11 occasions to this point, however these do not contribute to the five hundred rely; all of Starship’s liftoffs thus far have been suborbital check flights.
Congratulations to the SpaceX staff on finishing 500 (!!!!) missions with flight-proven rocket boosters. You’ve made the inconceivable potential with reusable rockets, paving the best way to land big quantities of cargo and many folks to determine everlasting human presence on the Moon… https://t.co/BPXHHNw84uNovember 17, 2025
Sentinel-6B is a part of the European Union’s Copernicus Earth-observing program. The brand new satellite tv for pc will measure sea floor heights across the globe with nice accuracy, persevering with the work of its predecessor, Sentinel 6 Michael Frelich, which launched atop a Falcon 9 in November 2020.
“Monitoring sea-level rise is excessive on the worldwide agenda,” European Area Company (ESA) officers wrote in a Sentinel-6B mission description.
“Previously 25 years, the typical top of the world’s oceans has risen by nearly 10 cm [4 inches], in accordance with knowledge from Copernicus,” they added. “The Copernicus Sentinel-6 mission has grow to be the gold normal reference mission to observe and file this key consequence of local weather change.”
Sentinel-6B will do that work utilizing a radar altimeter instrument developed by ESA. The satellite tv for pc additionally carries a NASA-provided microwave radiometer, which is able to decide atmospheric water content material, permitting for extra correct interpretation of the altimeter’s outcomes.
Throughout its first 12 months of observations, Sentinel-6B will work with Sentinel 6 Michael Frelich, “enabling higher accuracy with exact cross-calibration between the 2 devices,” ESA officers wrote in regards to the mission, which is a collaboration among the many European Fee, ESA, NASA, Eumetsat, and the U.S. Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with assist from the French area company CNES.
The Falcon 9’s higher stage deployed Sentinel-6B on schedule about 57 minutes after liftoff, at an altitude of 1,322 kilometers (821 miles). The three,175-pound (1,440 kilograms) satellite tv for pc will now undergo a collection of checkouts, then start its science mission.
The Falcon 9’s first stage, in the meantime, got here again to Vandenberg for a touchdown about 9 minutes after liftoff as deliberate It was the third flight for this explicit booster; its earlier two missions lofted batches of SpaceX‘s Starlink broadband satellites, according to the company.
Editor’s notice: This story was up to date at 12:33 a.m. ET on Nov. 17 with information of profitable launch and rocket touchdown, and once more at 1:25 a.m. ET with information of satellite tv for pc deploy.
