Status of the optical payload and processor development of ESA´s Sentinel 3 mission

In order to meet Earth observation needs of the European Union-ESA Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme, ESA decided to develop the Sentinels as first series of operational satellites. The series of Sentinel-3 satellites will provide global, frequent and near-realtime ocean, ice and land monitoring. It continues Envisat´s altimetry, the multispectral, medium-resolution visible and infrared ocean and land-surface observations of ERS, Envisat and Spot, and includes enhancements to meet the operational revisit requirements and to facilitate new products and evolution of services. The first launch is expected in 2012. In this paper the design of the major instruments and their basic performance parameters will be introduced as well as the expected accuracies of the main data products.