Flight VV24 – Sentinel-2C | Vega Launch I Arianespace

[Music] this set [Music] [Music] [Music] hello there and a very big welcome as you join us live at the Launchpad here at the European Spaceport in French Guana we are launching Sentinel 2ca it's a satellite to monitor our planet for the European space agency and the European commission and it's up there inside what we call the fairing about 15 kilometers also from the pad is the mission control center teams in here going through final preparations inside what we call the Fishbowl that protective glass there I'm Katie Haswell and uh I'm here in the mission control in the commentary box with Damen valade from Arn space thanks for being with us Daman great to be here Katie uh we are launching the Light Lift at Vega today yeah yeah and VGA is the first generation in the VGA series uh today it's its last flight before passing the bat on to the upgraded version Vega C indeed more on that to come but first let's go over to the flight desk now and to the CEO of Aran space Stefan Israel hi Stefan thanks uh very much indeed for taking the time to chat with us how are the final operations going everything is going very well all the parameters are now green you know that to make the launch tonight we need the bases to be ready and the basis is ready we need the satellite to be ready satellite Sentinel 2C which is ready and we need our launcher to be ready after the final preparation and the launcher is ready good to hear and this is an important uh important Mission isn't it Stefan for Aran space yes for sure because this is the fifth satellite we launch for Copernicus constellation the fifth Sentinel after four successful launches and you know that in Aran space we are very motivated to use space for a better life on Earth second this is a satellite we launch for Isa and for the European commission and our mission is also to give Europe with an autonomous access to space and last but not least this is our 22 Vega the last of the first Vega generation series indeed and uh we're getting close now to launch off the last Vega uh what can we expect to happen yes so we are going to lift off at 1050 p.m. local time we are going to lift off towards the north we will have the separation of the three stages and after 6 minutes a little more we will have the initi of the AUM per stage and after the second initi of the AUM per stage we will have the separation of the satellite Sentinel 2C at an altitude of 775 km and after a mission duration of 57 minutes fantastic well thank you very much indeed Stefan and uh best wishes now for the rest of the countdown thank you so Vega on her pad Standing Tall about 30 m tall actually you can see just on the top left of the the boards there in the the screens here in the mission control center scheduled to lift off in uh 16 and 1/2 minutes time the countdown there on the top right hand side of your screen um Vega is uh going to be lifting off as I said in about 16 minutes Daman what happens after that so Vega is composed of four sections we call them stages their names roughly match the mass of their propellent in tons so when the p8 engine ignites Viga heads North and we can see its flight path actually on the right hand side there um so the first stage will provide thrust for about 2 minutes and it will then be separated once empty the second stage of Zer 23 will take over for about 2 minutes and keep on increasing Vig speed then the third stage called zephirine will burn for about 3 minutes and at the very beginning of this phase the fairing will be jettison as we don't need it anymore to protect the satellite indeed it has passed through the dense lower atmosphere as you guess the zephirine is then separated as well and up next is uh an important step so we've got the third uh stage separation and uh coming up is the first uh ignition of the upper stage the aom which is rather special because it uses liquid propolin it will shut down in a bit more uh a bit more than 10 minutes later we will then uh have done a half uh uh we will have half an hour of a ballistic phas which will lead us over Australia where the aom second ignition will be carried out for 1 minute shortly after Sentinel Toc will be separated on a sun synchronous orbit which means that the satellite will always be in sync with the sun allowing for consistent linting conditions for the areas observed and the last step of this v24 mission is a f AUM boost to reduce altitude and avoid living debris orbiting Earth very important and Sentinel 2C is part of the world's most advanced Earth observation system it's a program called cernus under the leadership of the European Union where the European Space Agency is a co-founder and manages its space component day in and day out The Sentinel satellites monitor our planet giving reliable and upto-date information yeah they work in pairs it's uh basically twins in space monitoring land and Coastal Waters uh Sentinel 2A and B are already in space 2C is going to replace 2 2A to continue the service and replenish the constellation indeed so let's take a closer look now at Sentinel [Music] 2C tonight the Sentinel 2C satellite a key element of Europe's Copernicus program lifts off on the final Vega launcher the satellite will enhance the capabilities of its predecessors Sentinel 2A and Sentinel 2B by providing crucial data for capern services until at least the year 2030 equipped with a range of Cutting Edge instruments Sentinel 2C delivers high resolution images in 13 spectral bands as allowing scientists to accurately track changes in the Earth's surface including in vegetation Soil and Water cover among others thanks to the kernic Sentinel 2 mission we are also able to monitor floods fires and volcano eruptions the two Satellite constellation will systematically monitor the entire planet additionally they will provide near realtime data for Disaster Response just like all cop perica Sentinel satellites 2C makes highquality up-to-date imagery freely available for a wide range of uses worldwide this data empowers informed decision making in Environmental Management and policy development designed and built by a collaborative effort involving over 60 companies led by Airbus defense and space it is an outstanding example of Europe's excellence in developing advanced technology and managing a large large project on a multinational basis The Sentinel satellites are part of cernus the earth observation component of the EU Space Program managed by the European commission EC and in partnership with the European Space Agency Issa by joining its predecessors Sentinel Tui will contribute to delivering crucial insights for future Generations so as we heard there The Sentinel twos are a great example of Europe's technological expertise as a space Power and built by a Consortium of some 60 companies in Europe and the US led by Airbus defense and space in Germany with Airbus France responsible for the Innovative highresolution multispectral imager yes and it's the first Earth of the varish mission of its kind to include three bands in what we call the red Edge but but what's the red Edge it's a special type of light beyond the visible Red Spectrum it is used to detect subtle changes in plant Health invisible to the naked eye that means that the Sentinel twos give us key evidence about the health of the world's ve vegetation it is very important for Global Food insecurity and they can also help in Ur urban planning decision- Mak during emergencies or understanding our Coastal water which is very important as we Face demand for water yes indeed and uh of course Sentinel 2C is traveling on board the light launcher Vega as we said earlier um it was designed primarily to carry small satellites like Sentinel 2C uh Earth observation and scientific payloads to different orbits close to Earth and today is the last flight for the first generation base model so it's kind of important isn't it that's right we launched the first VGA from the space port 12 years ago so today is the 22nd launch and next we end over to the upgraded very V SE um the VGA program is a great example of teamwork between 10 European countries yes and of course the prime is Ario the prime contractor for Vega and vegacy and Aran space operates it uh Vega has delivered some very important spacecraft over those 12 years so I think this is a very good time for us to take a look back at the highlights of her career dude uh [Music] [Music] it does indeed the Adventure Continues with Vega C which is of course an upgraded version yeah V can carry up to 2.3 tons of payloads as compared to V's 1.5 tones uh thanks to the two upgraded solic propulsion stages it also features an enhanced upper stage a new Fairing and updated uh ground uh infrastructures but for now uh let's add some good vibes to the first uh uh via for its last flight first gen via yeah indeed Good Vibes coming your way first gen V Vega um so uh right now uh this kind of point before launch 6 and a half minutes you can see the screens here in the mission control center on the left hand side everyone's looking at those boards the green status panels the fact that they're green is a good sign they're showing us the go noo status of all the systems across the base yeah it's a bit like a pre-flight checklist for an aircraft so the panels are showing the health of the three main systems uh rocket and launch pad ensem AER the satellite and what we call the range uh so so that includes Telemetry Radars the weather and safety and for uh no I can tell you weather is green so that's great that's the last check 10 minute check weather well that's really good to hear and the teams monitoring all of this are in the launch control center or CDL as it's known here we can see them here um what are they doing so they are protected inside a concrete black house uh this is where we get the rocket and its pad ready for Lift half right now some of the teams are watching over these final important operations in the countdown down others are doing actual operations and switching systems on and off so you can see a door at the end of the room this leads to another room where the technical authorities are uh they are constantly monitoring the systems in real time if anything seems off track they communicate and troubleshoot the Frontline teams here at the G Space Center are supported by an of a team of experts in Europe that's right they are in cifo here they are in near near Rome yeah they are uh the avos technical support unit they are also following the launch in real time it means more brain on the job and it's good for solving issues as fast as possible you can never have too many brains on the job of course so um all very focused of course right now uh 4 minutes and 37 seconds to launch we're coming up to the beginning of the next phase which is the synchronized sequence or the automatic sequence the last four minutes of the countdown this is a crucial phase the rocket will become progressively automated during this time computers manage an impressive list of operations and the team in launch control are closely monitoring them all I couldn't hear there but I think we have announced the beginning of the synchronized sequence uh so we'll be hearing the voice of the range operations manager throughout the launch of course we have a fixed launch time today we don't have a launch window so uh teams have been working here at the Gana Space Center for two months now to get the rocket and the satellite ready for today we call this preparation process the launch campaign Damian what's been happening during that time so most part of via arrived in French Guana Naro ship and they were then transported by road to the Space Center the P the first stage arrived on the mobile platform at the Via lunchpad and was hosted into the mobile Gentry next the second stage the Zury 23 was lifted and assembled on top the first stage the third stage the Z 9 was then integrated on top the Zer 23 finally the aom upper stage was unloaded and assembled on the Z 9 Sentinel 2C arrived on a new ship called canop which has sales you can see the mass amazing yeah it was transported to to special clean rooms and prepared in controlled conditions with a operations such as the fit check so you can see there is a technician here actually checking that it fits I'm glad to to see that it does me too Sentinel 2C was then integrated onto its adapter and moved to Anover building there it was filled with propellant the team wear uh special suits for safety reasons and after assembly the satellite was enclosed in the fairing the upper composite was uh then transferred to the lunch Zone as you can see here and hosted onto the top of the launcher and integrated with the upper stage the avom there you have it with the launcher ready the mobile Gantry was removed just hours before lift off and the last V is ready for its Mission and there she is standing on the pad getting ready now now one and a half minutes to lift off right now all the panels are green as you mentioned Damian the weather's looking good it's uh been very hot here in French Guana so let's uh listen to the range operations manager right we are one minute to launch we're live at the European Spaceport in French Guana for the launch of Sentinel 2C our very best wishes to all the teams go Sentinel Toc e w spe they're off Sentinel 2C and Vega are blazing a trail across the equatorial Skies here over Europe's Spaceport in French Guana heading north out over the Atlantic towards the Caribbean islands burning the first three stages the first stage of course burning now getting us away from the gravity of the earth Vega really shoots into the sky Daman doesn't she yeah it does it does and we could feel the r B tumble here in the commentary cabin so um the p80 delivers a powerful TR thrust about 230 tons equivalent to twice twice its weight uh it just results in a very rapid acceleration um so the first stage uh its mass in propolin is 89 tons and it is made of a special material called filament one carbon epoxy we're looking here at Fantastic images um and separation there of the p80 first stage and switch on of the second stage the z23 so at this point in time we've lost about 2/3 of our weight and we're hearing that the propulsion is nominal so and the trajectory is nominal and of course the idea is to get rid of mass when it's no longer need needed as soon as each solid stage has used its propul yes we jeten it uh so that's why we split the rocket into different stages to avoid dragging unnecessary Mass into space and we're burning the z233 second stage Z for Ziro which is a type of wind a gentle and favorable West Wind it is often associated with uh bringing sprad and good weather uh it very much aligns with the goal of the VGA launcher which aims at providing reli and efficient access to space so Katie it's a poetic note to the idea of a smooth and successful journey and the fairing at the front of the rocket there you can see Sentinel 2C inside and uh we're getting news there that the end of the coming towards the end of the um burning of the z23 our altitude there on the top right right hand side 113 km above the Earth and bottom the vitess is our speed traveling at nearly 4 kilm per second SE separation there of the second stage and uh there's a a short delay before we then get the ignition of the third stage that's to avoid any collisions up in space absolutely so and we have separation now of the fairing that's been jettisoned we don't need it anymore and if you look at the altitude we're 30 kilm above Earth We're hearing that the propulsion is nominal and so is the trajectory everything going according to plan we can see Sentinel 2C Damian for the first time it's that gold structure at the front yes so we can see the 3.4 me long satellite attached to the alom upper stage so the gold part is the thermal insulation it was uh specifically uh designed in the ' 50s to protect satellites from the extreme temperatures in space and since then it has been it has been developed for all kinds of uses here on Earth uh that includes emergency blankets like the one you might have in your car well I don't actually have one in my car but I know the ones you mean they're very crinkly and noisy um and you can see there we lifted off from the Gana Space Center the Gallo was the tracking station here and now we using San je Maroni and if you look at the picture there you can see that there's just one solar panel today yes uh it is to maximize reliability and efficiency while meeting the satellites power requirements so satellites must be as lightweight as possible as you know and every kilo counts every little helps and so know the speed uh the speed should go just a bit under 8 kilm per second so we are heading toward that and everything is going according to plan everything is nominal um these images on the right hand side are the computer generated images they're kind of a 3D animation of uh what's been planned right now in space and they're pretty well as close as we can get to real time imagery aren't they yes so our mission analysis uh teams plan a precise set of events and we put that in uh a computer uh and it shows us the behavior that they have predicted uh that including or orientation with respect to the Earth and the Sun we put a lot of effort into it to make it true to life the satellite is modeled from uh 3D uh plans obviously for the textures of the different parts of the satellite we use uh photos to try and reproduce oh they really look like for instance the fmal insulation that we just mentioned and they it's really useful to have those images because of course the problem with space is that it's in space so you actually can't see what's happening getting close now now to separation there we go of the third stage that's been confirmed and so we've got away from Earth in 6 and 1 half minutes this is the um speed of course that we're traveling eight nearly well 7 and a half coming up to kilometers per second so we can really start the next phase of the flight now Damian our flight path takes us up north um we're heading up over the Caribbean towards the east coast of Canada we crossing the Arctic and back down over southeast Asia to the West Coast of Australia and that's where we're going to be releasing our satellite why North so the satellite will be in a fixed position over the Earth north to south with the Earth rotating below it imagine Katie you're are peeling an orange stripe by stripe I'm just going to stop you there we've had confirmation of acquisition of signal at Bermuda so yes stripe by stripe yes um so uh The Sentinel to peel very wide Stripes each saave is nearly 300 km so they can image our entire planet in 5 days amazing and we've got uh the switch on time now this is the scheduled moment to switch on the engine of the aam upper stage we have that confirmed uh this is an important moment actually in the flight trajectory is ninal we're hearing we've really started the next phase now of this part of the journey because the AVU boom or aam has taken the wheel and its job is to deliver our passenger to its required orbit yes it must be very precise we must release Sentinel to see an exactly the right injection orbit nearly 800 kilm uh altitude with the correct inclination which is uh 98.5 de but first we have to get there so the first aom boost is for reaching an intermediate elliptical orbit after that stage uh will cut off and a Voom means attitude and verer upper module bit of a mouthful absolutely so in engineering of verer is a Precision Tool it refers to the Precision required of the a which can deliver satellites at different orbits so it needs to perform satellite fine pointing before separating it that is why we need liquid propulsion it allows for more Precision manuvers than pwder uh because pwder is more suited to provide raw power indeed uh one of the features of the avum upper stage is that it can actually restart its engine and uh for Vega the first generation model this one that we're using today that's up to five times but for Vega SE it's even more isn't it and and I know this is important but just can you explain to people why it allows the avom to deploy different payloads into separate orbits much like an elevator stopping at multiple floors it's a big advantage of the Vega series uh not all lunchers can actually reignite their upper stage so today there is only one separation for One customer but for S lunches it's common to adjust the orbit between two or more separations so vacy has the impressive ability to reignite its engine up to eight times this allows us to reach up to three different orbits with vacy and that's a very very important when you've got different passengers wanting to get off the bus at different bus stops so here we are 10 minutes into our flight we are 310 kilm High we've traveled nearly 3,000 M uh kilometers across the planet if you were to draw a straight line along the Earth and our speed nearly oh you'll have to excuse me folks I've got a bit of a cough yeah so uh basically uh we will uh be now picking up the signal in getino uh in Quebec Canada uh in about just a few uh seconds we are waiting for confirmation indeed and if we look at the left hand side of our screen we can see the uh planned flight path with the white cross is the actual position of the rocket so we just uh acquired gtino hello gtino hello ladies and gentlemen boys and girls in Latin in gatino in Canada so the speed uh is 7 uh roughly 7.5 km/ second that's the equivalent of uh 27,000 km and we're looking here at the teams at the CVI yes absolutely so they are based on the monang theair it's on a hill just a few kilometers away from us so uh the quick look Telemetry uh or cve in French team they depict the current status and any significant findings from the Telemetry data the steps ensure that everyone involved understands situation and potential issues uh they pass on the info to the range operations manager the DDO in the mission control room and uh the range operations manager is responsible for announcing the confirmation of major events such as stage separations engine cut off and successful payload deployments so they're doing very very important work there absolutely and everything is still nominal now you might have not is the logo for the city of sevilia in Spain on the fairing of the rocket and that's because this year Seville has taken over the presidency of the Aran 2024 community of cities in partnership with Airbus defense and space it was set up in 1998 to strengthen cooperation between people involved in the space industry let's hear now from the mayor of ceville Jose Luis Sun [Music] [Music] har for [Music] cons techology solar [Applause] [Applause] so that was a hearing there from the mayor of Seville it was great to hear from him and and um just a quick word to let you know that we seem to be have a having a few difficulties actually hearing the range operations uh manager today but Daman and I are receiving the information directly from the CVI who uh are getting the Telemetry uh from the tracking station so we're giving you our confirmations uh that way and Daman is able to confirm things absolutely back to um our satellite it's an important one our world is changing the climate is warming the population is increasing and cities are expanding and some of the biggest challenges are meeting the growing demand for food and water keeping people safe and forming strategies to address climate change and looking down from space is vital for planning a sustainable future which is why cernus along with Europe's satellite positioning system Galileo are key components of the European Union's Space Program Damian let's just talk a little bit now about some of the applications for the information from from The Sentinel 2 satellites yes so we talked earlier about how uh important The Sentinel twos are in giving new insights into the world's vegetation that's important for land use and food production for instance as say you are a farmer you might use satellite data to decide how much water or fertilizer to use um it can also be very much useful in planning how to respond in emergency uh such as Floats or volcanic eruptions so for example you might remember uh the fires in Greece this summer we can actually see them on the screen uh the white fire near Athens so massive one erupted uh this uh on August 12th and this Sentinel 2 image uh shows uh shows it so you see um it uses a natural color combined with shortwave infrared to highlight the active fire fronts in red and the burnt areas in dark brown the fire driven by strong winds produced the smoke Cloud extending over 300 kilm towards Libya covering parts of Athens absolutely terrifying uh The Sentinel TOS can also help manage Water Resources as we mentioned earlier and not just for drinking but also for agriculture energy and sanitation and that's because they can measure the health and changes to water bodies that's whether they're lakes in land for example or on the coast mhm yeah you can see here some Coral bleaching in Florida so in July 2023 just a year ago record high sea temp temperatures were recorded around Florida and they soared more than 2° Cel Celsius above normal causing widespread Coral bleaching in the Florida Keys so the Sentinel to image um shows the affected area near Islam Morada thanks to data from copernic scientists can monitor these R Rising temperatures and their impact on the oceans I'm hearing there that um all the parameters are normal um interestingly The Sentinel too can also help in predicting malaria outbreaks but it can also help us understand animal populations yeah you will never guess what's the last image uh it's a penguin Colony discovered in Antarctica so the Sentinel 2 satellites uh with a resolution of 10 m per pixel offers uh a detail view of our planet leading to discoveries like this new penguin colonies um so it's an image from November 2016 Colony near cap Gates Antarctica and it was not detected funnily Enough by the Peng themselves but by the large brown dropping stains also called guano that they left on the ice so it helped scientist track these populations who'd have known that penguin poo would be so useful coming up to the next phase now Daman yeah absolutely so you can see uh we just uh Switched Off the uh engine um new that's coming up at uh 1830 here we go go that's what it looks like up there yeah we've got conf confirmation yeah indeed so why are we switching the engine off now so uh the AUM is Place Sentinel to see on an an eliptical orbit the shape of an oval if you will and know the altitude of the launcher is naturally Rising so when reaching the top the maximal altitude of the elliptical orbit the Aven will will reignite to circularize the orbit as uh at its final altitude let's talk now let's talk now about space team Europe uh it's in a mission like this it's always the result of years of teamwork across Europe and um you know relationships are made and friendships are made Space Team Europe is an initiative led by the European space agency and it aims to bring people working in the field of space under the same umbrella with no barriers or boundaries between [Music] companies e [Music] dire the the work of the program manager consists in managing the programs in in this case in my case the Vega related programs both development and exploitation accompaniment along their lifetime the lifetime of program starts with the definition of the program proposal uh the uh submission to the ministerial Council it is is a matter to manage day by day the activities to accompany the activities their successful uh conclusion uh taking always in mind and uh respecting the programmatic uh objectives which are uh cost schedule and uh performance and Technical requirements we're going to take a short break now during this coasting phase and cut our microphones for just over 20 minutes so we're going to keep the Telemetry on the screen for you and the 3D animation and we'll be back in about 23 minutes time uh just before separation of Sentinel 2C yeah so if I were you I would stay tuned because the most important part is coming up it is indeed the separation and releasing of our satellite so we'll be back just before 11:40 that uh here in Kuro that's 3:40 in the morning greenish meantime and about 4:40 Central Europe European Time see you then e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e [Music] hello again welcome back it's good to have you with us for part two of our live broadcast coming to you from the European Spaceport the edge of the Amazon rainforest in French Guana we're 50 minutes or so into the launch of Sentinel 2C it's an earth observation satellite for the European space agency and the EC uh you saw it there lifting off from the pad here at the Guana Space Center very beautiful images of the Vega launcher right now Sentinel 2C is hurtling through space attached to what remains of The Rock it on its way to the orbit above Earth uh just under 800 uh kilm about 775 where we will be releasing it yeah so that's actually a 7.4 kilm per second and uh that's our speed now so we lifted up at 1050 uh Kuru time it's the last figure so at 736 uh we switched on the aom uh engine for a 10-minute burn we had a ballistic phase for 36 minutes uh it's still uh ongoing and in a few uh minutes uh the avom is uh scheduled to uh switch its engine back on um in four minutes and we'll separate Sentinel 2C shortly after and on the left hand side up there on the top of the screen is the trajectory the white cross the planned sorry the planned trajectory the white cross is the actual uh launcher the position of the launcher the altitude on the right we're actually um at nearly 800 kilometers 792 we've traveled 2,00 18,000 nearly 19,000 kilometers across the Earth if you were to draw a straight line and our speed at the moment we're traveling at 7.42 km/ second so a reminder if you're just joining us that Sentinel 2C is going to replace Sentinel 2A to continue the important one work of Europe's Sentinel 2 satellites they're looking down from space to help us better understand our planet and they have some very clever technology on board right Damen yes so the telesc he's just telling us that we have acquisition of signal at the new noria tracking station yes that's great news so the telescope and mirrors are made from silicon carbide a motor oil first pioneered by Airbus it ensures High stability and minimal Distortion from temperature changes uh it basically results in exceptionally clear images so this quality is just unmatched in its category so each Sentinel 2 satellite collects 1.5 terabyt of data per day after onboard compression so that's that's a uh counting in 4K movies assuming we are going for a super good quality of 30 GB a movie that means the equivalent in terms of storage of 50 ultra high definition movies that's a lot of movies movies yeah need a big hard drive to store all of those so we have traveled we lifted off from the northeastern coast of South America and we flew over Canada over the Antarctic back down over southeast Asia and we're now approaching Australia in fact you heard there that we picked up the signal at the tracking station [Music] in and the stage is orientating itself to get ready to switch the engine back on Amazing to think that it's only taking us about 53 minutes to get to Australia yeah I mean like you could be flying there from Paris and it would take you 25 hours it would indeed um so new noria tracking station what that's uh just near Perth yes about 1 hour and 30 minutes Drive uh north of Perth so the teams play a crucial uh role there in New northia 2 in supporting fast moving satellites and Rockets uh during the launch and early orbit stages so it supports a variety of uh missions and that includes uh uh of course Aran nigia it provides critical tracking services for deep space missions such as Bey Columbo are the more recently launched uh juice last last year the Jupiter uh icy moons Explorer of course exciting Mission yeah definitely so I remember when we were waiting for juice to send its signals through that antenna we were doing an interview with nunia when they picked up Juice's signal we all got emotional there in Jupiter because it meant that Juice's Journey was really beginning yeah it must have been I can just imagine we have a switch on of the second boost for the aam upper stage it switched its engine on again for the second time all going according to plan all nominal why are we switching the engine on now so right now we are currently an an tical orbit the shape of an egg if you will after the first burn that lasted 10 minutes the AUM and Sentinel to see uh were actually put on that elliptical orbit and we've now reached the desired altitude and we want to stay there uh we need to turn into a circular orbit hence we are doing a second burn for about just two minutes uh to circularize our orbit and tell tell us about the Sentinal 2C separation orbit versus this final orbit as it were yeah so it was initially placed uh 11 km uh lower than Sentinel 2 a and 2 B uh at nearly 800 kilm at a lower altitude it orbits Earth slightly faster um over the 38 uh first days it will gradually catch up uh to Sentinel to A and B so once in in position its altitude is raised to match the other two satellites and this maneuver stops drifting uh and it keeps the distance between all three satellite constants next event coming up will be the cutting off of the a we have 20 seconds left of the burn on the aam upper stage that's how it looks up there in space you can see the curvature of the earth and the Thin Blue Line of course the atmosphere of our planet that's all that protects us from space coming up now on aam cut off and we have confirmation there second switching off of the aam upper stage confirmed we're on the targeted injection orbit required for Sentinel 2C the separation actually is going to start pretty soon now in a matter of seconds and he's telling us that the orbit is completely nominal we can see that Damian beginning of the orientation maneuver getting Sentinel 2C ready to uh be released onto its orbit yes so the altitude is just uh where it needs to be uh the speed is uh 7.6 kilm per second so it's the same speed as the ISS roughly you have separation there of Sentinel Toc that's good news we are looking at happy faces in the mission control center here Jupiter Mission Control Center that's uh excellent news here we are looking at the teams in the Fishbowl the operational teams yeah everyone happy in the flight C and know within the CL Parts as well Sentinel 2C on its way now heading out on its own Journey we've delivered it to space and now it's heading out to make its own life and of course the teams at the European space operations center and also at Airbus taking on their baby now and controlling the satellite as it goes through the early operations to commission it vager having done a good job there and lifted off operated like clockwork definitely so yes so everything went according to plan so we're going to hopefully hear now from the uh CEO CEO of Aran space Stefan Israel uh Stefan great to have you back with us thanks very much indeed for coming back to chat with us a second time good news we've released the satellite yes it's an excellent news we have a perfectly uh completed the mission tonight the satellite Sentinel 2C has been separated on the targeted orbit it is a full success tonight this is the fifth Sentinel sat night we deliver successfully and I can tell you we are very grateful to our customers uh the European commission Isa to our part Airbus satellite manufacturer to our Prime Avio for this great success and what's next Stefan indeed in fact Vega is going to deliver one more time for Copernicus it will be vegasi so the next generation of Vega and now with Isa with Avio we are going to prepare the return to flight of Vega SE and the return to flight of Vegas SE will be once again for a Copernicus satellite it would be Sentinel by the end of the year so keep posted absolutely keep posted indeed stepan thank you very much indeed thank you thank you well now we've talked a lot about our satellite Sentinel 2C let's turn our attention now to the people who use the uh information which The Sentinel twos provide the capern program currently has more than 750,000 registers you registered users that 750,000 people who use the information coming from the satellite and they can be anyone from Farmers and environmentalists to emergency services and journalists just like me receiving press releases in our inbox about the state of the climate for example and uh that information is completely free it's a fantastic service and anybody can use it and I have to tell you I'm very very impressed but it's one thing receiving data from the satellites it's another thing being able to understand it and uh use it and um that's the job of the cernus program and I'm absolutely delighted to introduce you to uh us Donar or Donar I think I should be pronouncing it with a better Spanish accent who's joining us now um Uzu you are from the Cernic's land monitoring uh program you lead the cernus land let me just get this right cernus land monitoring service uh which provides information about the land and of course Sentinel 2C is all about the land and and the water um just tell us a little bit more about well first of all wonderful launch eh yeah that was a wonderful experience I have to say yeah did you see did you go outside and see it with your own eyes I am still trying to digest it um us tell us a little bit about the kind of people who use in a minute you can tell us about what you use the the information from the satellite for but tell us about people generally who use the information so we have different types of uh users of um Sentinel of Sentinel to data we first have this type of people who actually know how to do uh how to produce information um based on on the satellite imagery um and that would be me for instance 20 years ago and then we have those people which is a wider public that do not really know how to process the data and do not really know how to create information on on them and what we do on the on on the Copernicus Land marit Services we create information based on those satellite imagery information on the in our case on the land cover and also on the on the changes that are appearing the in the in on land and also on biophysical par parameters and and what do you use that information for well we create um different types of uh products um maybe the easiest to to imagine for alignment would be um a digital map so to speak but that would be that's far too simple so what we are doing is based on the satellite imagery we analyze it we analyze the time series of the images this is we analyze a lot of images what acquired one after the other and what we infer from them is uh things like uh crop classification we also um make a um analysis of the Tre cover density over a certain area or we are monitoring in Inland water and the quality um another one which is I think one of the most intuitive is to give you a a kind of cartography of the land cover so what is what can be visible on land and what what does this information actually tell you I mean how how important is it well it's it's really important in our case so the the land monitoring service actually it's it's colet by two different entities I am leading it at the European environment agency and then The Joint Research Center is leading it at Global level so at the European environment agency we are doing it only within Europe and this is because one of our main goals is to serve uh different environmental policies what we're trying to do um sometimes success successfully sometimes not so much is to create information that can serve uh the policy makers to take decisions on how to protect better our environment now since 2C is replacing Sentinel 2A for anybody who doesn't understand how satellites uh work in terms of providing continual information can you explain why that's important and why we need to have two satellites in this particular uh configuration and why it's important to to replenish the the uh sorry the constellation I think one one of the one of the biggest added values of CERN program it's that it's commitment towards consistency and coherence over time so we are we because we have a purpose in our case which is serving the European policies but it could be other purposes as well in the case you were mentioning before the Emergency Management Service that's also quite a big purpose to to to be able to support uh the the different um um the different administrations that are dealing with a with a uh emergencies it is important to know and to to tell our clients our stakeholders okay this is here and it's going to last and we are going to continue it and it's not going that is not just a a proof of concept so to speak this is it is we're hearing the range operations manager there just confirming that the next orientation maneuver is beginning for the um in order to uh for the aam upper stage to perform its third boost which of course will be part of its deorbiting uh program so just coming back to Sentinel 2 uh C and the Sentinel 2os in in general I mean what other projects or applications could benefit from Sentinel 2's data because I know obviously you guys are using it for your specific purposes but there are quite a lot of other applic and even some surprise ones aren't there yes I mean in in fact there we are only doing um so we are not doing all that could be done with the Sentinel too because it's maybe in some cases it's not our mandate um but I think that the for The Wider public the the possibilities are endless I have to say uh I've been in the business uh almost for 20 years now and and um when when the Sentinels were launched when we started receiving the images the whole paradig of how we work with the Earth observation changed so we came from just using a single image maybe two at most uh that were actually taken up to 80% of the cost of the project um and now we have the whole this whole time series uh to to take advantage of it um so we could think about potentially um monitoring of environmental crimes is one of the things that lately is uh starting to to be really um uh on top of in really high high in the agenda um we are already monitoring the status of the vegetation across the whole across whole Europe our colleagues at the J Research Center are creating now for the first time a land cover map at 10 m for the whole globe with a a very very high um uh repeat time so a very high update frequency and all these things are only possible because sentinent 2 is there for us it sounds like this is a very very important mission for you which is uh which is not just important for you it's important for all of us on Earth um I wanted to ask you a little bit more about disaster management um because we heard earlier from Damian um was talking to us uh showing us a few slides and some of the work that ensal twos have been doing how how important is it for design Master management and and making decisions making better decisions when dealing with emergencies yeah I mean the one of the the biggest out values here is that we we have an an updated image every five days so this gives a lot of uh very powerful information to the Civil protections that are working in the field to see how is for instance a forest fire how is it evolving uh you can see it almost near real time in a way um you can see also um a volcano how how does it evolve and this is all information that is very very important for the for the Civil protections to make sure that everyone is stay safe and I guess because you are using the information from the satellites you must really have a big input do you into how the satellites are are created and some of the the work that they do I mean how much influence do you have well uh the European environment agency we are we are indeed one of part of the stakeholders that uh helped the uh Isa Define the the sentinent tool because we are monitoring land and therefore our requirements are um graciously taken into consideration of course yes very graciously that's that's good to hear let's talk a little bit about how we use the information now I did mention earlier that I do get the press releases from the cernus uh satellites into my inbox on my emails um but I mean obviously there are lots of different people using it but I think what's really astounding is that it's free to anybody to use and I I believe I'm right in saying that the quality of the data which is produced by cernus is so high and so relevant um that it's really transformed the Earth observation industry and I know that you can access it through something called the cap cernus data space ecosystem is that right yes Copernicus space data ecosystem indeed it's it's going to be the centralizing all the data produced by the Copernicus services and and how do you how do you use it how do you access that well it's we are currently actually uh in the land monitoring service is currently migrating the data to the CDs um which is an and this I have to say has been also a change um when we when the Sentinels went up um is not is not only about how much information we have we also have a much bigger volumes of data as well and that also entailed that we needed to change how we serve our users and how the users can access the data and that is key for the correct uptake of our product I guess really I think as Europeans we probably need to be very very proud don't we of the cernus system it's it's quite extraordinary it is extraordinary and I think we should all be and we can and we should be very proud of what has been achieved uh through the Copernicus program it is amazing that we were able to build this um biggest earth observation program uh in the world I feel uh a part a very very small part of the I have to say and seeing today Sentinel 2 see go up it was amazing because you see how you see the future soow somehow well tell us more about the future well it's it's exciting moments right now because we are shaping the the how will the service evolve in the next years from 20 2028 onwards um and what we are receiving we are at this moment having a lot of conversations with our stakeholders asking our colleagues in different dgs how could we serve better their purposes and it's it's really exciting I I know it's not only about the Sentinels it's also about all the other missions that Isa is uh is working on or is uh through the Copernicus contribution missions and it's it's really an exciting moment uh for all of us I would say indeed and um watching the Vaga launcher lift off I'm sure you felt the vibrations wow that was amazing I I have to say I I was not expecting to get so emotional let's put it that way we had a former who used to call the Call It The Rumble in the Jungle as the rocket flies over because you really can actually feel the vibrations of the rocket in your chest indeed usway thank you so very much for uh joining us and sharing your thoughts it's been really fascinating to hear thank you very much for giving me the opportunity thank you it was we done that thank you very much indeed so we are now 1 minute uh coming up to uh sorry 13 1 hour and 13 minutes uh coming up to 1 hour and 14 minutes into our flight and I am seeing clapping that's a good sign that means that we have acquired the signal from the satellite so and we have confirmation that the satellite Sentinel 2C has called home via the troll tracking station who's picked up the signal from the satellite and communicated it to us here so that's fantastic news Sentinel 2C is delivered and uh has sent its first signal home so we are now hoping to hear from some of the representatives of the major organizations involved in today's launch uh Damian's back with me Damian this is great news we've got the signal absolutely I'm just thrilled uh I was very excited when I saw the signal coming up from Troll and here we can see some very happy faces and uh the Sentinel uh satellites are a collaboration uh between the European Space Agency the European commission and Industry as we heard earlier the uh industrial side involves people from 60 different companies and I think across something like 13 countries so it's a really is a massive big effort of teamwork and we're going to hear from the representatives of those uh three entities who have been watching the launch here from the Mission Control Center and um here we are in our commentary box Damian's back with me I'm pleased to say and uh yep we're just okay I think everybody's ready so we can now talk to them so I'd like to introduce you and I'm absolutely delighted to introduce you to uh Christopher uh gatz who's the director of satellite navigation Earth observation the European commission uh r g hich who's the head of Institute ution satellite programs at Airbus defense and space and Julio Renzo CEO of Avio but first of all let's go to simoneta kayy who is the director of Earth observation at the European Space Agency simoneta you must be absolutely delighted congratulations yes we are absolutely delighted thrilled about this successful launch of Sentinel Toc Copernicus program is just another milestone in the super history of this program under the leadership of the European Union and after 10 years the first launch of the first Sentinel we look forward this continuity of the data it's going to be great for users after the commissioning phase of course first three months we will provide data to users in the domain of land disaster marine and much more also methane monitoring crop monitoring Agriculture and you name it so we really look forward this new element of the Copernicus fund family it's another add-on to the super history of providing an infrastructure space one to support the challenges of climate environment and sustainability at this stage I would only like to thank our main partner which is the European commission it's a program under their leadership we have many more satellites to launch in the coming years we have already up and running eight of those and of course I'd like to also thank a special thank you to the member states of Visa we have quite a few you here today with us in Kuru uh and uh last but not least of course to Ariana span AIO they managed to take the satellite into the right orbit and to Industry this is in fact a collaboration where industry plays a key role and elas defense and space help build the satellite with 60 companies in Europe so a great collaboration of Europe Europe at work and last but not least I really would like to pay a tribute to the team the Fantastic Team of the earth Observation Center 2 project for their motivation their professionalism and really looking forward the next step of this great program Sim thank you so much and indeed uh Kristoff it really s is absolutely right it's been a fantastic uh product of teamwork hasn't it yes uh indeed I would like to thank all the partners who made this launch a very successful launch today is of course of course our major partner here in this Copernicus program aanas AIO KES and of course satellite manufacturer airus I would like to thank them and uh I think it shows when Europe works together we can do really great things and I think today tonight is really a proof of that a Flawless launch everything worked perfectly well so I'm really very very happy and it's also as we are in times of Olympics like a Rel race a relay race between relay between the last VGA and the next VGA C you heard about it it will be end of the year and it's also a relay between Sentinel 2C and Sentinel 1C which we will launch on the Vega sea so it's really in Olympic terms it's a wonderful night today handing on the Baton uh rudiger um what's coming up next so um please allow me first also to say a big thank you to the entire Sentinel 2 team which is composed of our colleagues from Isa as well as from industry under the lead of Airbus and also congratulations and thank you to Arian BS and Avio for delivering safely the satellite into orbit um the next step now will be the early operations phase under the lead of isok the European space operations center in dad followed by the commissioning and all this last approximately until early December and then we go into the nominal operations phase and that's very exciting and um over now to uh to Julio Julio that we've seen the last that was the last of the first generation Vegas now we looking forward to Vega SE well yes you're right this is an emotional night for us uh first of all um let me thank the European commission for the trust in our launcher and as Kristoff was saying before for um um Vega has been a key uh rocket for the Copernicus program will continue to be and Copernicus is a key program for Vega so we really work together I wish to to thank them for their trust in in our teams but let me take this occasion at the end of the Vega program to thank our European partners because uh this program has lasted 12 years you know more than 100 satellites orbited to space this would have never been possible without the great support of the European space agency that has promoted this program from the beginning but I also like uh to thank Ariana space because Ariana space has placed this rocket everywhere in the world we have launched satellites from more than 15 countries around the world thanks to their Global reach I also wish to thank KES uh from KES we have learned a lot we have learned how to respect the rules of safety and many other things over the years and I really wish to thank them them I also like to wish our uh Italian space agents who have supported the program from the beginning and the Italian government who has been behind it with together with the other 13 member states that have participated to this program um but let me also thank my team my team in Avio who has done a tremendous job over 12 years many successes but also challenging times and I could not have a better team trust me because they have been able to overcome challenges and turn to success again and this is the greatest thrust you can have in in your team and I'm really I'm really grad for that and this is the reason why as a last note I would like to dedicate this flight to a close part of the team a team member who unfortunately passed away a couple of weeks ago out of a very very aggressive cancer mik rudnik he was the master of liquid propulsion in our team unfortunately is no longer with us but he would wish to witness this succcess so I want to dedicate this success to him thank you thank you very much indeed and congratulations to everybody for a very successful uh launch thank you so much so it's mission accomplished for the last Vega launcher over now to Vega SE of course as we've been saying Sentinel 2 has joined its twin in space and uh it's uh ready to do some very very important work um but congratulations to everybody Daman yes congratulations to the European industry for this major achievement and to our friends at the manufacturers and of course to all uh the EA teams and Europe and well done to everyone at R in space and the space board for an excellent job done best of luck with to everybody now with the next phase of your operations thanks for joining us here live at the Guana Space Center from me Katie Haswell and me Damian Val goodbye bye [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] 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