A European satellite with improved color gradation and capturing capabilities has just been launched into space deemed as one of the worlds most ambitious and innovative Earth observation program.
A Vega rocket from the European Space Agency (ESA) base at Kourou, French Guiana, carried the satellite named Sentinel 2B. The spacecraft worth approximately 95 million possesses a camera sensitive to 13 different life wavelengths including some frequencies that are invisible to the human eye.
This will help observers to study the health of crops and forests, growth of cities and the effects of altering land usage and global warming. Sentinel 2B will also be used to examine natural disasters and further humanitarian relief efforts globally.
Josef Aschbacher, the director of Earth observation programmes at Esa, said, "Sentinel 2 is a huge improvement. The biggest improvement is the global coverage. At mid-latitudes it's even better, every three days. For the first time [Europe is] leading the global monitoring aspect of space. There's nothing comparable in America, in Japan, in Russia, in India. What is more the data are free and openly available to everyone."
Sentinel 1A and 1B, launched in 2014 and 2016 respectively provide radar-mapping data. Other Sentinel missions, some yet to be launched, will collect data on the oceans, atmosphere and climate.
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