Baci® Perugina® celebrates the launch of the new European satellite Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich

Baci® Perugina®, like all the Nestlé Group in Italy and all around the world, has always been aimed at protecting the environment, celebrating initiatives to promote its protection.

For this reason, Baci® has decided to pay tribute to ESA, the European Space Agency, accompanying it in the launch of the new European satellite Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich. This satellite from the space will monitor, among many others geophysical parameters, the changes in the sea level.

The rocket SpaceX Falcon 9 will take Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, US, the 21 November 2020.

Copernicus Sentinel-6 is part of the Sentinel family of the European program Copernicus managed by the European Commission. The European Space Agency coordinates the space infrastructure of the program. Sentinel-6 is the result of a unique collaboration between ESA, EUMETSAT, NASA, NOAA and with the contribution of the CNES.

Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich will have the task of measuring, thanks to the radar altimetry technology, the variation in the height of the sea surface, the speed of winds, the height of the waves, etc at least until 2030. It will rotate around the Earth at more than 1300 km of altitude and it will be able to make a complete mapping of the seas (95%) every 10 days.

Knowing and mapping how sea levels changes over time is important because it gives us useful information on climate change. Indeed, Sentinel-6 will help researchers understand how climate change is reshaping the Earth's coasts and how fast this is happening.

Earth's oceans and atmosphere are inextricably connected. The sea absorbs more than 90% of the heat trapped by rising greenhouse gases, which causes seawater to expand. This expansion accounts for about one-third of modern-day sea level rise, while meltwater from glaciers and ice sheets accounts for the rest.

Satellites tracking the changing height of the ocean surface show that global mean sea level has risen, on average, by just over 3 mm every year since 1993. Even more worryingly, this rate of rise has increased in recent years. The role of Copernicus Sentinel-6 is not only to continue this critical ‘gold standard’ record for climate studies, but also to measure sea-surface height with greater precision than before. This mission will also be able to collect precise data on atmospheric temperature and humidity, information that will help improve weather forecasts and climate models, thus allowing to predict in advance the extent of atmospheric phenomena that will hit our planet, such as hurricanes and tornado.

On the occasion of the launch, ESA and Baci® will have the opportunity to distribute chocolates tube with a special creativity, VIP Boxes and postcards with good wishes for Copernicus Sentinel-6 received from all partners and from the space community on social media.

Baci® shares the same love for the environment with ESA, for this reason follow the mission of Copernicus Sentinel-6 is an opportunity to remember that Perugina®’s chocolate truly involves all the senses, including that one of responsibility towards our planet.