Copernical Team
Sentinel-6B is launched
Video:
00:01:45
Copernicus Sentinel-6B was launched on 17 November 2025, ready to continue a decades-long mission to track the height of the planet’s seas – a key measure of climate change. The satellite was carried into orbit on a Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, US.
Sentinel-6B follows in the footsteps of its predecessor, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, which was launched in 2020. The mission is the reference radar altimetry mission that continues the vital record of sea-surface height measurements until at least 2030.
Copernicus Sentinel-6 has become the gold standard reference mission to monitor and record
Copernicus Sentinel-6B begins mission to advance ocean science
Copernicus Sentinel-6B launched today, 17 November, at 06:21 CET aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The satellite was delivered into orbit just under an hour after liftoff, and at 07:54 CET ESA's European Space Operations Centre in Germany received the signal via the Inuvik ground station in Canada, confirming that Sentinel-6B is operational and healt Sentinel-6B launched to extend record of sea-level rise
The latest guardian of our oceans has taken its place in orbit. The Copernicus Sentinel-6B satellite is now circling Earth, ready to continue a decades-long mission to track the height of the planet’s seas – a key measure of climate change.
Sentinel-6B launch highlights
Video:
00:02:09
Copernicus Sentinel-6B was launched on 17 November 2025, ready to continue a decades-long mission to track the height of the planet’s seas – a key measure of climate change. The satellite was carried into orbit on a Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, US.
Sentinel-6B follows in the footsteps of its predecessor, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, which was launched in 2020. The mission is the reference radar altimetry mission that continues the vital record of sea-surface height measurements until at least 2030.
Copernicus Sentinel-6 has become the gold standard reference mission to monitor and record
Morphing 3D-printed structures from flat to curved, in space
Because it's costly and cumbersome to transport large structures such as satellite dishes into space, aerospace Ph.D. student Ivan Wu and his advisor, Jeff Baur in The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, developed a creative and efficient energy-saving method to morph 2D structures into curved 3D structures while in space.
Wu said what others have done Colorado Boulder advances research and education in space law and policy
University of Colorado Boulder researchers are expanding their work into space law following decades of experience in space exploration.
The need for policy expertise has grown as countries continue to launch satellites, probes, and military hardware into orbit.
Marcus Holzinger, professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, is the inaugural Hatfie ESA's impact featured in key UK space policy report
Evidence provided by the European Space Agency was featured in a House of Lords report on space policy, highlighting the benefits and opportunities of ESA-UK cooperation.
On 4 November, the House of Lords' UK Engagement with Space Committee published a report entitled "The Space Economy: Act Now or Lose Out". It explores the challenges and opportunities facing the British space sector - an Exoplanet map initiative earns NASA support for University of Iowa physicist
University of Iowa physicist David Nataf will lead a NASA-funded research project focused on producing detailed three-dimensional maps for the study of exoplanets and their host stars.
Nataf and his team will address the challenge posed by interstellar extinction, the dimming and reddening of starlight by dust, which obscures observations of exoplanets. Their work will rely heavily on data Space Systems Command advances New Glenn certification after latest launch
Space Systems Command continues the process of certifying Blue Origin's New Glenn launch vehicle for National Security Space Launch missions, following the successful NG-2 launch at 3:55 p.m. EST from Space Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The US Space Force Assured Access to Space Certification Team from System Delta 80 observed this second flight of New Glenn.
The Can America Beat China Back to the Moon?
The United States faces a narrowing window to claim its position as the first nation to return humans to the Moon in the 21st century. While NASA's official timeline targets Artemis 3 for no earlier than mid-2027 - roughly three years before China's 2030 lunar landing goal - the path forward is fraught with technical complexity, schedule pressure, and the kind of engineering challenges that have historically humbled even the most ambitious space programs. 
