SENTINEL 1A

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SENTINEL 1A is classified as:

Disaster monitoring

NORAD ID: 39634

Int'l Code: 2014-016A

Launch date: April 3, 2014
Source: European Space Agency (ESA)
Launch site: FRENCH GUIANA (FRGUI)

The mission is the first of six families of dedicated missions that will make up the core of Europe's Copernicus environmental monitoring network. Copernicus will provide operational information on the world's land surfaces, oceans and atmosphere to support environmental and security policymaking and the needs of individual citizens and service providers. Designed as a two-satellite constellation - Sentinel-1A and -1B - the C-band radar mission will provide all-weather day-and-night imagery of land and ocean surfaces of Europe, Canada and the polar regions in near-real time. Equipped with a powerful 'synthetic aperture radar,' it will ensure continuity with the European Envisat satellite, which stopped working in 2012 after 10 years of service. The technology is based on a long heritage of radar satellites, starting with ERS-1 23 years ago. In addition to transmitting data to a number of ground stations around the world for rapid dissemination, Sentinel-1 is also equipped with a laser terminal to transmit data via European Data Relay System satellites in geostationary orbit for continual data delivery.