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The Sentinel-2B
satellite, part of a system of satellites that is to monitor
Earth, blasted off on board a Vega rocket from Europe's
spaceport in French Guiana at 8:49 p.m. EST (0149 GMT on
Tuesday).
It will join its twin Sentinel-2A, which has been in orbit since
2015, to take high-resolution, color and infrared images for a
wide array of environmental initiatives, including crop
forecasting and monitoring natural disasters.
The two satellites will orbit 488 miles (786 km) above Earth, on
opposite sides of the planet.
Together, they will be able to cover all of Earth's land
surfaces, large islands, inland and coastal waterways every five
days, providing more up-to-date images and at higher resolution
than have been available.
The Copernicus project is described by the European Space Agency
(ESA) as the most ambitious Earth observation program to date.
The European Union and the ESA have committed funding of more
than 8 billion euros ($9 billion) to it until 2020.
The launch of the Copernicus project became especially urgent
after Europe lost contact with its Earth observation satellite
Envisat in 2012 after 10 years.
The first satellite of Europe's planned seven-member network
launched in April 2014.
(Reporting by Maria Sheahan in Frankfurt and by Irene Klotz at
Cape Canaveral, Florida; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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