BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The European Union has sent a new satellite to space with the mission of generating valuable images and data to help respond to natural disasters, monitor pollution and inform action on climate change.
The third satellite in the Copernicus Sentinel 2 mission, Sentinel-2C, lifted off successfully from Kourou in French Guiana Thursday morning.
The Sentinels are a fleet of satellites that look down on earth and gather vast quantities of data that feeds into Copernicus, Europe's Earth observation program.
More than 34 million gigabytes of data has been generated so far by satellites previously launched in this series.
The satellites capture high-resolution images of land and coastal areas, which have a range of uses from monitoring the spread of wildfires to support emergency services, to detecting methane leaks from pipelines and power plants.
Sentinel-2C will add to these capabilities and offer new biophysical data such as leaf area index, leaf chlorophyll content and leaf water content, for use in monitoring the growth and health of crops and plants.
The launch of Sentinel-2C will ensure continuity of data by taking the place of Sentinel-2A, which was launched in 2015 and is nearing the end of its service.
In the coming years, Sentinel-2D will replace Sentinel-2B which was launched in 2017. This continuity of service into the future is crucial for companies and public sector bodies, which are building the use of Copernicus data into everyday business decisions.
Copernicus is the Earth observation component of the European Union's Space program.
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