Operator
European Commission (EC)Manufacturer
European Commission (EC)Sentinel-6B Mission
11/17/2025
A radar altimeter on Sentinel-6B measures sea levels for nearly all of Earth's ocean.
Sentinel-6B is set to launch in November from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.
Sentinel-6B will be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.
The Inuvik ground station in Canada received the first signal from Sentinel-6B.
Sentinel-6B launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Sentinel-6B will use radar to deliver continuous ocean topography measurements.
For the Sentinel-6B launch, Falcon 9 will use a reused first stage, intended to land on a SpaceX ocean platform.
Thales Alenia Space provided a Poseidon-4 radar altimeter and a TT&C transponder for the Sentinel-6B satellite.
Sentinel-6A and Sentinel-6B have two main instruments: a European synthetic radar and a NASA-contributed advanced multi-frequency radiometer.
Data generated by the Sentinel-6B satellite will be used to manage sea-level rise, predict extreme events, and support evidence-based environmental policies.
Sentinel-6B will support oceanographic and meteorological models, providing critical information to researchers, forecasting centers, and civil protection agencies.
Airbus Defence & Space is the prime contractor for the Sentinel-6B satellite on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA).
Sentinel-6B is part of the European Union's Copernicus program and the European Space Agency, with significant contributions from NASA.
Key instruments on Sentinel-6B include the Poseidon-4 Synthetic Aperture Radar altimeter, the Advanced Microwave Radiometer for Climate, the Global Navigation Satellite System - Radio Occultation sensor, and the Precise Orbit Determination Package.
An Observer briefing dated October 30, 2025 stated Sentinel-6B was scheduled to launch in November 2025 with a nominal lifetime of about five and a half years, providing data through approximately 2030.
As of September 22, 2025, an update modified the CNES-listed Sentinel-6B launch date to 17 November 2025 with a modification not later than August 19, 2025.
As of June 6, 2025, NASA JPL materials updated on May 12 showed Sentinel-6B targeting a November 2025 launch and the FY26 PBR indicated a launch in FY26Q1 (Oct–Dec 2025).
As of June 24, 2025, a CNES presentation slide from the Living Planet Symposium listed Sentinel-6B launch as 16 November 2025.
Sentinel-6B is the second of two identical satellites in the Copernicus Sentinel-6/Jason-CS mission, with its twin Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich having launched in November 2020.
As of December 20, 2022, the Sentinel-6B launch was scheduled for 17 November 2025 at 05:21:42 UTC (9:21:42 p.m. PST on 16 November 2025) from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, and booster B1097-3 was assigned to return to Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4).