Earth Observation Programmes
Only space provides the perspective to understand, monitor and act on our changing world.
26 FEB. 2014
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Launch: Sentinel-1A on 3 April 2014 (ended in June 2026)
Sentinel-1B on 25 April 2016 (ended in August 2022)
Sentinel-1C on 5 December 2024
Sentinel-1D on 4 November 2025
Launcher: Soyuz for Sentinel-1A and -1B
Vega-C for Sentinel-1C
Ariane-6 for Sentinel-1D
Launch site: Kourou, French Guiana
Orbit: Polar, Sun-synchronous at an altitude of 693 km
Revisit time: Six days (at the equator) from two-satellite constellation
Life: Minimum of seven years
Satellite: 21 m long, 2.5 m wide, 4 m high with 2×10 m-long solar arrays and a 12 m-long radar antenna
Mass: 2185 kg
Instrument: C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) at 5.405 GHz
Automatic Identification System (AIS) onboard Sentinel-1C and Sentinel-1D
Operational modes: Interferometric wide-swath mode at 250 km and 5×20 m spatial resolution
Wave-mode images of 20×20 km and 5×5 m spatial resolution (at 100 km intervals)
Strip map mode at 80 km swath and 5×5 m spatial resolution
Extra wide-swath mode of 400 km and 20×40 m spatial resolution
Receiving stations: SAR data: Svalbard, Norway; Matera, Italy; Maspalomas, Spain; Inuvik Canada; and via laser link through EDRS. Telemetry, tracking and command: Kiruna, Sweden
Mission: Developed, operated and managed by various ESA establishments
Main applications: Monitoring sea ice, glacier velocity, oil spills, marine winds, waves & currents, land-use change, land deformation among others, and to respond to emergencies such as floods and earthquakes and support humanitarian aid and crisis situations
Funding: ESA Member States and the European Union
Prime contractors: Thales Alenia Space for the satellite; Airbus Defence and Space for the SAR instrument
Data access: dataspace.copernicus.eu
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