About

Sentinel-6B, an Earth-observing satellite jointly developed by NASA along with U.S. and European partners, will observe Earth's ocean, capturing sea level measurements to provide insights that will improve weather forecasts and flood predictions, safeguard public safety, benefit commercial industry, and protect coastal infrastructure.

Sentinel-6B’s data will additionally be used to refine atmospheric forecast models used by NASA’s Engineering Safety Center to plan safer reentry of astronauts returning from Artemis missions. 

Sentinel-6B will take over as the official reference satellite for global sea level measurements from its twin spacecraft, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, which launched in 2020. The two satellites make up the Copernicus Sentinel-6/Jason-CS (Continuity of Service) mission, which extends a long line of U.S.-European missions that have monitored sea levels since 1992. 

Sentinel-6/Jason-CS is a collaboration between NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with funding support from the European Commission and technical support on performance from CNES (France’s National Centre for Space Studies).

Launch

The Sentinel-6B spacecraft is set to launch no earlier than Nov. 16, 2025, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East, at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.