Mobile version

Sentinel-3 orbit

Sentinel-3's orbit is similar to ERS, Envisat and Saral one (but not exactly the same). Main orbit features agree with scientific requirements: a high inclination polar orbit, a sun-synchronous orbit and a complete global coverage every 1 to 3 days for optical instrumentation.

 

Choice of orbit

The selection of a sun-synchronous orbit, due to the ocean color and SST sensors, is of primary importance and has driven the satellite's physical configuration. Many of the choices were examined during the ERS-1 mission preparation and the concept of the multidisciplinary orbit, with a 35-day cycle. The total altitude range, within a few tens of kilometres of 800 km,  and the inclination (98.55) was also critical to the design. Sentinel-3 is on a slightly different orbit, but quite close (27 days, 814.5 km, 98.65°) to ERS, Envisat and Saral's orbit.

Manoeuvers

A satellite's orbit parameters tend to change over time as a result of atmospheric drag. In the long term, more or less periodic variations also occur due to instabilities in the Earth's gravity field, solar radiation pressure, and other forces of smaller magnitude.

Orbit manoeuvers are performed every 40 to 200 days. Intervals between maneuvers depend chiefly on solar flux and each manoeuver lasts less than 60 minutes. They are performed above solid earth, so that lost data acquisition time is reduced to a minimum.

Pass locator

ESA delivered the kml file with S3 ground-track points with a time step of 10 seconds, please refer to ESA's website .

Orbit parameters

Main characteristics
Semi-major axis 7177.926540 km
Eccentricity0.001148
Argument of perigee 90.0°
Inclination (sun-synchronous)98.65°
Auxiliary data
Mean altitude814.5 km
Nodal period100.987 min
Repeat cycle27 days
Number of revolution per cycle385
Number of passes per cycle770
Ground track separation at Equator 104 km
Orbital velocity 
EnglishFrançais
Rss feedsContactPartnersFAQLexiconLegal noticePersonal Data Protection PolicyMobile
You must enable cookies in your browser preferences to save the modifications
You are using an older version of Internet Explorer, please update to take full advantage of Aviso+ features

Customize the home page

View all widgets
Reduce display
Public profile
User profile

Select/Deselect widgets

Discover AVISO+

Customizable home, reading tools, products search guide, etc.. Discover step by step the features of the new site AVISO+.

Customizable homepage

This home page is composed of blocks called "widgets".

Rearrange the blocks with a "Click & Drop".

Hide a widget with the cross at the top right. Reset or add a widget with the "wrench" icon. The "User" and "Public" profiles offer a predefined organization.

All the modifications are automatically saved as cookies on your machine so as to enable you to have your own specific AVISO+.

Reading tools

Ease your reading by choosing the page background colour (black/white) and/or by modifying the font size.

Browsing menu and breadcrum trail

To ease your browsing through AVISO+, you can use at any time the main banner items with the interactive submenus or use the browsing menu on the left side of the screen (it is open by default). For more readiness of the page contents, you can fold and unfold the browsing menu by clicking on the tab. At any time you can know where you are thanks to the browsing menu or the breadcrum at the top of the page.

Products search guide

The first submenu of the "Data" banner item leads you to a new search form enabling you to find quickier the product that suits your needs. The list of results is updated according to your selection criteria.

AVISO+ Multimedia

The first submenu of the "Multimedia" banner item leads you to AVISO+ collections of images and videos linked to altimetry and its applications. Have a nice visit!