Sentinel-2A is a European optical imaging satellite launched in 2015. It is the first

Sentinel-2 Sentinel-2 is an Earth observation mission from the Copernicus Programme that acquires optical imagery at high spatial resolution (10 m to 60 m) over land and coastal waters. The mission's Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-2B satellites were joined in or ...

satellite launched as part of the

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

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

Sentinel-2B Sentinel-2B is a European optical imaging satellite that was launched on 7 March 2017. It is the second Sentinel-2 satellite launched as part of the European Space Agency's Copernicus Programme, and with its orbit phased 180° against its siste ...

Mission history

Launch

Sentinel 2A was launched by the

Vega Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, and ...

VV05 rocket on 23 June 2015 at 01:52 UTC. The satellite separated from the upper stage 54 min 43 s after liftoff.

Orbital operation

The satellite captured its first image 100 hours after launch, covering a wide swath from Sweden through Central Europe to Algeria. Commissioning occurred in October 2015. 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. File:Orbit path - Sentinel 2A descending - day.png, Sentinel 2A's descending orbital path

References

External links

Sentinel-2 programme
at ESA's Sentinel Online
Sentinel-2 programme
at ESA.int
Real-time orbital tracking

uphere.space
{{Use dmy dates, date=March 2017 Copernicus Programme Earth observation satellites of the European Space Agency Spacecraft launched by Vega rockets Spacecraft launched in 2015 Twin satellites