Sentinel-3A will be taken into orbit on a Rockot launcher from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia. The launch in scheduled for 16 February 2016. Carrying a suite of cutting-edge instruments, Sentinel-3 will measure systematically Earth’s oceans, land, ice and atmosphere to monitor and understand large-scale global dynamics. It will provide essential information in near-real time for ocean and weather forecasting – it is set to be the workhorse mission for Europe’s Copernicus programme.