Sentinel-3C, launched on 15 September, captured its first images and measurements on 29 and 30 September, about two weeks after launch, the European Space Agency announced on 8 October. It is the third satellite in the Sentinel-3 series of the EU’s Copernicus programme.
The first image shows Italy, with the Po Valley, the Alps, the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian seas, and Sardinia and Sicily. Other images show the icy islands of the Canadian Arctic and the turquoise waters around Cuba and the Bahamas.
The satellite’s radar altimeter has already measured sea-surface height over the Atlantic and Mediterranean and the height of the Greenland ice sheet, with results matching reference measurements. Sentinel-3C will monitor oceans, land, ice and atmosphere and is expected to enter full service in about five months.
