Sentinel-2A

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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, 2 months, 17 days
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]

Contents

On 7 March 2017 the Sentinel-2A was joined in orbit by its sister satellite, Sentinel-2B.

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]

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]

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. 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.