Getting the bigger picture on the health of our planet drew another step closer today as Europe's Sentinel-3A satellite was handed over to Eumetsat for operations.

Since it was launched in February, the satellite and its instruments have been meticulously fine-tuned to make sure that everything is fit and ready for the task in hand: to systematically map Earth's surface for a myriad of services related to both the oceans and land.

ESA's Bruno Berruti has been responsible for taking Sentinel-3A from the drawing board and into orbit ready for service. He said, "As the last phase of the ‘project', the handover signals the end to an intense five months during which we ensured the satellite and instruments are all working well so that they can start delivering routine data."