Data-Driven Planet #28: Sentinel 2 Doubles Down
European Space Agency (ESA) just announced that its Sentinel-2B satellite is set to launch in less than two months. Offering ‘color vision’ for Europe’s Copernicus program, the mission involves twin satellites, Sentinel-2A and 2B, combining high-resolution and novel multispectral capabilities. Sentinel-2A has been in the orbit already since June 2015. The launch is scheduled for 7 March at 01:49 GMT.
“We are off to a flying start and eager to get our baby into orbit so that it can join its twin and do the job of continuously delivering images to monitor our changing world.”
– Paolo Laberinti, ESA’s launch campaign manager
In this week’s Data-Driven Planet:
Sentinel-2B prepared for liftoff on 7 March. Sentinel-2B is designed to work in tandem with the Sentinel-2A, launched in June 2015. Just a month ago, the next set of Sentinel-3 altimeter data was made available and assimilated into models, helping to improve the determination and prediction of ocean currents, significant wave height, wind speed and sea ice thickness.
Data is a key aspect to wind turbine performance optimization. SgurrEnergy has assessed over 4.2 GW of wind farm capacity and come to the conclusion that turbines typically under perform expected power curves by about 2%. Capturing the actual wind conditions at the site is the most critical external data source which enables the highly valuable data analytics and the consecutive performance improvement. The importance of big data in wind is also supported by the prediction that wind farm operations and management optimization will require service contracts that allow operators to leverage big data and predictive maintenance tools to maximize returns on investments.
Using Earth Observation data without ever looking at a satellite image. We all know that the Earth Observation data is only a raw material for deriving the information — we need to make the decisions. Andrew Cutts, an EO systems architect, makes a good example in his blog post regarding how ESA Proba-V satellite imagery is used to generate a vegetation data product.
Connecting Earth Observations in Europe. The European ConnectinGEO project has mapped existing Earth Observation networks with science, private sector and with GEOSS and Copernicus stakeholders. The goal of the analysis was to understand the gaps in different Earth Observation themes and variables. By theme, the biggest gaps are in climate and ocean data, and by type, temporal resolution and extent are the main shortcomings of the existing data products.
Thanks for reading! As a part of our continued commitment to deliver operational intelligence to our customers, each week we publish a carefully curated list of news we find important. Focused on the intersection of geospatial data, earth science, energy, and IoT, the Data-Driven Planet newsletter includes the week’s most notable developments in the market.
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