Sentinel-1A and Sentinel-1B are European radar satellites. The first satellites launched under the European Space Agency's (ESA) Copernicus space program. While in the same orbit, both satellites can film the entire territory of the Earth within 6 days. The launch of the Sentinel-1C satellite is planned for 2021, and in the future — Sentinel-1D.
Sentinel-1A and Sentinel-1B were launched as part of the Copernicus project (ex. GMES-Global Monitoring for Environment and Security). Sentinel-1A and Sentinel-1B satellites are almost identical in technical characteristics and work together in orbit. Developed by the company "Thales Alenia Space", which was responsible for the design, development and integration of the device. Sentinel-1A was launched from Kuru cosmodrome on 3 April 2014, Sentinel-1B on 26 April 2016.
Technical characteristics of the spacecrafts Sentinel‑1A, 1B
| Name of the spacecraft | Sentinel-1A, Sentinel-1B |
|---|---|
| Country | Italy |
| Developer | Thales Alenia Space Italy, Airbus Defence and Space |
| Operator | ESA |
| Launch vehicle | Union-2 (Russia) |
| Launch date |
03.04.2014 (Sentinel-1A), 26.04.2016 (Sentinel-1B) |
| Launching pad | Kuru spaceport |
|
Orbit: height, km inclination, degree |
Sun-synchronous 693 98.1 |
| Period of active existence, years | 7 |
| Follow-up period, day | 1-3 |
| Power, W | 5300 |
| The size of spacecraft, m×m×m | 3,9 х 2,6 х 2,5 |
| Mass, kg | 2280 |
The sentinel-1 is equipped with a synthetic aperture radar /C-SAR (developed by Astrium), which provides all-weather delivery of space images. Shooting is performed in the C-band (wavelength 6 cm). After processing the data in some modes, the spatial resolution will reach 1x1 m.
Technical characteristics of the shooting equipment
| Name of shooting equipment | Synthetic Aperture Radar (C-band) |
| Polarization | Single (HH or VV) |
| Transfer rate, Mbit/sec | 520 |
| The volume of onboard memory, GB | 1410 |
Technical characteristics of the shooting equipment
| Shooting mode | Spatial resolution (range x azimuth), m x m | Shooting bandwidth, km |
| Strip Map Mode | 5х5 | 80 |
| Interferometric Wide Swath | 5х20 | 250 |
| Extra-Wide Swath Mode | 25х100 | 4 |
| Wave-Mode | 5х20 | 20х20 |
- oil spill detection and monitoring
- sea ice mapping
- monitoring of earth surface movements
- mapping changes in land use
- maritime surveillance
- mapping of forests
- observations of natural disasters
- conducting research in various fields