ESA title
Sentinel-1, the first in the family of Copernicus satellites
Enabling & Support

Sentinel-1 operations

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ESA / Enabling & Support / Operations

The Sentinel-1 mission is a polar-orbiting satellite constellation for the continuation of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) operational applications.

Sentinel-1 is a C-band imaging radar mission that provides an all-weather day-and-night supply of imagery for Copernicus user services. The first of the dual Sentinel-1 satellites, -1A, was launched on 3 April 2014 and its identical twin, -1B, was launched on 25 April 2016.

Dedicated to the Copernicus initiative, Sentinel-1 is ensuring the continuity of C-band SAR data, building on ESA’s and Canada’s heritage SAR systems on ERS-1, ERS-2, Envisat and Radarsat.

The mission

The Sentinel-1 satellites are operated from ESA's ESOC mission control centre in Darmstadt, Germany. 

 
ROLEEarth observation - all-weather day-and-night radar imagery as part of Europe's Copernicus programme
LAUNCH DATE1A: 3 April 2014 | 1B - 25 April 2016 timeframe
LAUNCHER/LOCATIONSoyuz, Kourou (both launches)
LAUNCH MASS2300 kg each (two satellites)
ORBITNear-polar, Sun-synchronous, about 690km
PERIOD12-day repeat cycle; 175 orbits/cycle
NOMINAL MISSION7 years
++ Imaging global landmasses, coastal zones and shipping routes at high resolution ++

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