Sentinel-2A is a European optical imaging satellite launched in 2015. It is the first Sentinel-2 satellite launched as part of the European Space Agency's Copernicus Programme. The satellite carries a wide swath high-resolution multispectral imager with 13 spectral bands. It will perform terrestrial observations in support of services such as forest monitoring, land cover changes detection, and natural disaster management.[4]
Model of a Sentinel 2 satellite | |
| Mission type | Earth observation |
|---|---|
| Operator | ESA |
| COSPAR ID | 2015-028A |
| SATCAT no. | 40697 |
| Website | Sentinel-2 (ESA) |
| Mission duration | Planned: 7 years[1] Elapsed: 7 years, 3 months, 4 days |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft type | Sentinel-2 |
| Manufacturer | Airbus Defence and Space |
| Launch mass | 1,140 kg (2,510 lb) |
| Dry mass | 1,017 kg (2,242 lb) |
| Dimensions | 3.4 m × 1.8 m × 2.35 m (11.2 ft × 5.9 ft × 7.7 ft) |
| Power | 1700 watts |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 23 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) |
| Bandwidth | 64 kbit/s upload (S band) 128 kbit/s - 2 Mbit/s down (S band) 520Mbit/s down (X band/Optical) |
| Instruments | |
| Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) | |
Sentinel-2 | |
On 7 March 2017 the Sentinel-2A was joined in orbit by its sister satellite, Sentinel-2B.
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.[citation needed]
The satellite captured its first image 100 hours after launch, making a 290 km wide swath from Sweden through Central Europe to Algeria.[5][6]: 8 Commissioning occurred in October 2015.[6]: 8
Between 20 and 23 January 2017 the spacecraft suffered a mission planning anomaly which resulted in loss of data from the Multi-Spectral Imager.[7]
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Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Cubesats are smaller. Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses). | |