The Sentinel-1A radar satellite has arrived at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana to be prepared over the coming weeks for launch on 3 April this year.
Sentinel-1 is a two satellite constellation with the prime objectives of Land and Ocean monitoring and the data will have a resolution up to 5m. The launch of Sentinel-1B is planned for 2015. The goal of the mission is to provide C-Band SAR data continuity following the retirement of ERS-2 and the end of the Envisat mission.
Mission Objectives:
- Land monitoring of forests, water, soil and agriculture
- Emergency mapping support in the event of natural disasters
- Marine monitoring of the maritime environment
- Sea ice observations and iceberg monitoring
- Production of high resolution ice charts
- Forecasting ice conditions at sea
- Mapping oil spills
- Sea vessel detection
- Climate change monitoring