Attempt to prevent pollution: atmosphere monitoring satellite successfully launched from Russia

NewsBharati 14-Oct-2017

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Moscow, October 14: The air quality monitoring satellite was successfully launched from Russia on Friday. Sentinel-5P satellite was launched by a Rokot missile from the Plesetsk launch pad in northwestern Russia. The satellite's TROPOMI instrument will build daily global maps of gases and particles harmful for health.

Air pollution is now one of the major issues concerning the entire world. Concerned by the issue, this European Union satellite has been developed to create a global map of air quality every 24 hours. It carries enough fuel to last for a whole decade though is designed for a mission life of about seven years.

"The Sentinel-5P satellite is now safely in orbit so it is up to our mission control teams to steer this mission into its operational life and maintain it for the next seven years or more," ESA Director General Jan Woerner said.

Gases like nitrogen dioxide, ozone, formaldehyde, sulfur dioxide, methane, and carbon monoxide leave a significant impression over the air. The polluted air not only affects our health but also causes climate change. The satellite's TROPOMI instrument will build daily global maps of these gases and particles harmful for health. The instrument has been developed by Netherlands' national meteorological agency (KNMI).

"KNMI will use this data to improve air-quality forecasts and to keep a close eye on emission increases or reductions, and to monitor what mitigation measures are effective in protecting the air we breathe," Pepijn Veefkind from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) said earlier.

Sentinel 5-P Tropomi KNMI Air Pollution Russia EU