MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/. Preliminary plans indicate a Russian booster vehicle Rokot will take the European research satellite into orbit from the Plesetsk Space Center on October 9, Rene Pischel, the representative of the European Space Agency in Russia told TASS.
"The latest information we have suggests the launch has been scheduled for October 9 but we’re still awaiting official confirmation of the date," Pischel said.
He recalled that, in line with earlier plans, the booster vehicle was to lift off from Plesetsk but more time was needed to eliminate the faults tracked down during the testing of the vehicle.
"A second satellite awaiting the launch is Sentinel-3B," Pischel said. "Under the agreement, it is to be launched before the yearend."
As reported previously, these launches will sign an end to the commercial operations of Rokot family booster vehicles. The operating schedule also has three more launches for the purposes of the Russian Defense Ministry.
Sentinel-5 Precursor will become the sixth probe in the Sentinel family built as part of the Conpernicus program. It will watch the chemical composition of the Earth’s atmosphere and climate changes.
Airbus is the manufacturer of the greater part of elements of the satellite. They are manufactured at the corporation’s factories in the UK, France and Germany.
TROMPOMI tropospheric monitoring system will do the sampling of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, methane, and other atmospheric contaminants. It will analyze the samples with a much bigger degree of precision than the previous satellites did.
A G2 satellite MetOp will replace Sentinel-5 Precursos in 2021.