The TROPOMI instrument has been launched !
The TROPOMI instrument was launched from Plesetsk, Russia in Siberia (click here for video) and shortly thereafter successful contact was made with S5P. Now the instrument will go through many important design and calibration tests in flight as the Commissioning Phase progresses. All aspects of S5P mission requirements for quality control, calibration, validation, and end-to-end system performance monitoring are addressed by the so-called S5P Mission Performance Centre (MPC), further described here. KNMI is the lead scientific institute for the TROPOMI instrument.