Sentinel-2A

Last updated
Sentinel-2A
Sentinel 2-IMG 5873-white (crop).jpg
Model of a Sentinel 2 satellite
Mission type Earth observation
Operator ESA
COSPAR ID 2015-028A OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
SATCAT no. 40697
Website Sentinel-2 (ESA)
Mission durationPlanned: 7 years [1]
Elapsed: 10 years, 7 months
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type Sentinel-2
Manufacturer Airbus Defence and Space
Launch mass1,140 kg (2,510 lb)
Dry mass1,017 kg (2,242 lb)
Dimensions3.4 m × 1.8 m × 2.35 m (11.2 ft × 5.9 ft × 7.7 ft)
Power1700 watts
Start of mission
Launch date23 June 2015, 01:51:58 (2015-06-23UTC01:51:58) UTC [2]
Rocket Vega (VV05)
Launch site Kourou SLV
Contractor Arianespace
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Low Earth
Semi-major axis 7,167.10 km (4,453.43 mi)
Eccentricity 0.000127
Perigee altitude 788.06 km (489.68 mi)
Apogee altitude 789.87 km (490.80 mi)
Inclination 98.5623°
Period 100.65 minutes
Epoch 9 March 2017, 21:05:23 UTC [3]
Transponders
Band S band (TT&C support)
X band and optical laser through EDRS (data acquisition)
Bandwidth64 kbit/s upload (S band)
128 kbit/s - 2 Mbit/s down (S band)
520 Mbit/s down (X band/Optical)
Instruments
Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI)

Sentinel-2A is a European optical imaging satellite launched in 2015. It is the first Sentinel-2 satellite launched by the European Space Agency's and this Sentinel is part of the European Commission's Copernicus Programme. The satellite carries a wide swath high-resolution multispectral imager with 13 spectral bands. Its observations support services such as forest monitoring, land cover change-detection, natural disaster management and water quality monitoring. [4] On 7 March 2017 the Sentinel-2A was joined in orbit by its sister satellite, Sentinel-2B.

Contents

Mission history

Launch

Sentinel-2A was launched by the Vega VV05 rocket on 23 June 2015 at 01:52  UTC. The satellite separated from the upper stage 54 min 43 s after liftoff. [5]

Flight controllers at ESA's ESOC celebrating end of LEOP for Sentinel-2A End of LEOP (18987328049).jpg
Flight controllers at ESA's ESOC celebrating end of LEOP for Sentinel-2A

Orbital operation

The satellite captured its first image 100 hours after launch, covering a 290 km (180 mi) wide swath from Sweden through Central Europe to Algeria. [6] [7] : 8  Commissioning occurred in October 2015. [7] : 8 

Between 20 and 23 January 2017 the spacecraft suffered a mission planning anomaly which resulted in loss of data from its instrument, the Multi-Spectral Imager. [8]

In December 2025, Sentinel-2A performed experimental night observations, something it was not designed to do, in order to test these operations for the follow-on Sentinel-2 Next Generation mission. The satellite successfully captured night-time images of gas flares from oil production in the Middle East, wildfires in India, and fishing boats off the coast of South Korea. [9] [10]

Wildfire in India imaged by Sentinel-2A at night Wildfire in India imaged by Sentinel-2A at night ESA516826.jpg
Wildfire in India imaged by Sentinel-2A at night

References

  1. ↑ "Sentinel-2: The Operational Compernicus Optical High Resolution Land Mission" (PDF). European Space Agency. 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  2. ↑ "Second Copernicus environmental satellite safely in orbit". European Space Agency. 23 June 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  3. ↑ "Sentinel 2A - Orbit". Heavens-Above. 9 March 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  4. ↑ Justice, Adam (23 June 2015). "Sentinel-2A: Satellite blasts off to provide new, improved view of Earth". International Business Times . Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  5. ↑ Chris Bergin (22 June 2015). "Vega successfully launches Sentinel-2A mission". nasaspaceflight.com. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  6. ↑ "Sentinel-2 delivers first images". European Space Agency. 29 June 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  7. 1 2 Hoersch, Bianca (2015). A short success story of Sentinel-2A (PDF). Meeting of the Earth Observation Programme Board. 22–23 September 2015. ESRIN, Frascati, Italy. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  8. ↑ "Loss of Sentinel-2A acquisitions between 20 and 23 January 2017". European Space Agency. 23 January 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  9. ↑ "Sentinel-2 explores night vision". www.esa.int. Retrieved 19 January 2026.
  10. ↑ Enthusiast, Space (18 January 2026). "ESA Switches on Night-Time Imaging for Sentinel-2A Copernicus Satellite [PHOTOS]". Orbital Today. Retrieved 19 January 2026.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.