The takeoff of Sentinel 1B and Microscope (still) postponed for a day – Sciences et Avenir

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The flight is postponed until Sunday, April 24, 2016, due to unfavorable weather conditions. The launch is rescheduled at the same time: 11:02 p.m. Paris time

In a few minutes, at 23:02 Paris time, in this April 22, 2016, a Soyuz launcher will jump since. no shot from the Kourou space center in French Guiana. In its cap payloads that are on the observation satellite Sentinel-1B Earth, experience Microscope and three “cubesats” in the program “Fly your satellite.” You can follow the launch live. You can also follow the Twitter account of our journalist Sylvie Rouat, present on site.

• Sentinel 1-B is an observation satellite of the Earth. It will work with its sister, Sentinel 1-A, already in orbit since April 2014. Like him, it is designed to scan the surface of the sea, watching the ice melt, oil spills or landslides. Indeed, it is designed to respond rapidly to natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes, and provide data to the ground as fresh as possible. Sentinel 1-B orbit will be placed 180 degrees from its big brother, to improve revisits and enable intervals and to map the entire globe in just 6 days.
• Microscope is a fascinating satellite smaller (microsatellite) whose mission is to achieve a physics experiment on falling bodies with a precision never reached. The aim is to check the equivalence principle enunciated by Einstein that can be summarized as follows: in the absence of friction, is a feather and a lead ball arriving at the same time the ground when allowed to fall from the same height. The experiment will be carried out at 700 km altitude with two different masses (one platinum, the other titanium). An experience that seems simple but could potentially open the door to new physics. For more information, we recommend reading this article
• Fly your satellite . This educational program aimed at university allows students to design and send in space tiny centimeters to 10cm side: the cubesats. Three of them will thus be part of the trip. The first (OUFTI-1), developed by Belgian students, will test a new amateur communication protocol. e-st @ r-II, developed by an Italian team, will test a new satellite’s altitude control system based on the use of the magnetic field of the Earth. Finally, AAUSAT4, designed by Danish students will attempt to locate and identify vessels.