Minimize What is Sentinel-2?
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The Sentinel-2 mission is a land monitoring constellation of two satellites that provide high resolution optical imagery and provide continuity for the current SPOT and Landsat missions.

The mission provides a global coverage of the Earth's land surface every 10 days with one satellite and 5 days with 2 satellites, making the data of great use in on-going studies.

The satellites are equipped with the state-of-the-art MSI (Multispectral Imager) instrument, that offers high-resolution optical imagery.

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Land-cover maps of Europe from the Cloud

20 March 2020

Mapping land cover is not only essential for monitoring change, but it also underpins numerous practical applications. However, generating these maps entails handling huge amounts of satellite data and some technical expertise. Thanks to the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission and new cloud-computing resources, fully automated land-cover maps in 10 m resolution are on the horizon.

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Taal volcano blanketed by ash

23 January 2020

The Philippines' Taal volcano erupted on 12 January 2020 – spewing an ash plume approximately 15 km high and forcing large-scale evacuations in the nearby area.

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Launch date:

Sentinel-2A - 23 June 2015
Sentinel-2B - 07 March 2017

Operational lifespan: 7.25 years (with consumables for 12)

Mission Objectives:

  • Land observation, including: Vegetation, soil and water cover, inland waterways and coastal areas
  • Land use and change detection maps
  • Providing support in generating land cover
  • Disaster relief support
  • Climate change monitoring

Mission orbit:

Orbit Height: 786 km
Orbit Type: Sun-synchronous
Inclination: 98.5o
Repeat cycle: 10 days with one satellite and 5 days with 2 satellites

Payload:
MSI (Multispectral Imager)

Resolution and Swath Width: 290 km - 10 m, 20 m and 60 m spatial resolution

Configuration:
The spacecraft is equipped with a deployable solar array and the dimensions of the craft are: 3.4 m x 1.8 m x 2.35 m with a weight (at time of launch) of 1100 kg.

Launch vehicle:

Vega rocket (Sentinel-2A)
Rockot vehicle (Sentinel-2B)

Ad interim operator: ESA

Data processing:

  • Level 1 - A - Radiometric corrections
  • Level 1 - B - Geometric corrections
  • Level 2 - A - Cloud screening
  • Level 2 - B - Atmospheric corrections
  • Level 2 - C - Geophysical variables retrieval algorithms
  • Level 3 - Simulation of cloud corrections

Contractors:

Astrium Germany has been prime contracted to construct the Sentinel-2 satellite and leads a consortium with core partners:

  • Astrium France is providing the MSI payload
  • Boostec is providing the three-mirror Silicon carbide telescope and the instrument baseplate
  • Jena-Optronik is responsible for the 2 Video Compression Units (VCU)
  • Sener is supplying the instrument Calibration and Shutter Mechanism (CSM).

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