The Sentinel missions
ESA is developing a new family of missions called Sentinels specifically for the operational needs of the Copernicus programme.
Each Sentinel mission is based on a constellation of two satellites to fulfil revisit and coverage requirements, providing robust datasets for Copernicus services.
These missions carry a range of technologies, such as radar and multi-spectral imaging instruments for land, ocean and atmospheric monitoring:
- Sentinel-1 is a polar-orbiting, all-weather, day-and-night radar imaging mission for land and ocean services. Sentinel-1A was launched on 3 April 2014 and Sentinel-1B on 25 April 2016. Both were taken into orbit on a Soyuz rocket from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.
- Sentinel-2 is a polar-orbiting, multispectral high-resolution imaging mission for land monitoring to provide, for example, imagery of vegetation, soil and water cover, inland waterways and coastal areas. Sentinel-2 can also deliver information for emergency services. Sentinel-2A was launched on 23 June 2015 and Sentinel-2B followed on 7 March 2017.
- Sentinel-3 is a multi-instrument mission to measure sea-surface topography, sea- and land-surface temperature, ocean colour and land colour with high-end accuracy and reliability. The mission supports ocean forecasting systems, as well as environmental and climate monitoring. Sentinel-3A was launched on 16 February 2016 and Sentinel-3B joined its twin in orbit on 25 April 2018.
- Sentinel-5 Precursor – also known as Sentinel-5P – is the forerunner of Sentinel-5 to provide timely data on a multitude of trace gases and aerosols affecting air quality and climate. It has been developed to reduce data gaps between the Envisat satellite – in particular the Sciamachy instrument – and the launch of Sentinel-5. Sentinel-5P was taken into orbit on 13 October 2017 on a Rockot launcher from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.
- Sentinel-4 is a payload devoted to atmospheric monitoring that will be embarked upon a Meteosat Third Generation-Sounder (MTG-S) satellite in geostationary orbit.
- Sentinel-5 is a payload that will monitor the atmosphere from polar orbit aboard a MetOp Second Generation satellite.
- Sentinel-6 carries a radar altimeter to measure global sea-surface height, primarily for operational oceanography and for climate studies. The first satellite was launched into orbit on 21 November 2020 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, US.
Looking to the future, six high-priority candidate missions are being studied to address EU policy and gaps in Copernicus user needs, and to expand the current capabilities of the Copernicus Space Component.
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