Launch nears for Sentinel-1A
03 March 2014
The first of ESA’s new family of Earth-watching Sentinel satellites has been shipped to Europe’s Kourou spaceport in French Guiana, South America. After seven years of design, assembly and testing, Sentinel-1A will be launched by a Soyuz rocket on 3 April 2014.
The satellite will weigh a modest 2.3 tonnes at launch. Sentinel-1A has a rather unusual design, with two 10 m-long solar wings and a 12 m-long radar antenna. The solar arrays and antenna will be folded so that they will fit inside the protective fairing on the rocket’s nose. After the satellite is released into space, they will be unfolded together, but in a carefully planned sequence that will take about 10 hours to complete.
Once it becomes operational, Sentinel-1A’s advanced radar instrument will image Earth's surface 24 hours a day, seven days a week, regardless of whether it is cloudy or dark.
Sentinel-1A data will be used for many different activities. It will map changes in the Arctic’s sea-ice cover, look out for oil spills at sea, as well as detect ship. It will study forest, water and soil resources, and will give support during crisis situations. In fact, it is the only European satellite specially designed for fast response to emergencies such as floods and earthquakes.
A second, identical, Sentinel-1 satellite is set for launch next year. Together, they will continue the long record of radar studies provided by ERS-1, ERS-2 and Envisat.
