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Sentinel-1A, 1B satellites
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 satelliteSentinel-1A, Sentinel-1B
CountryItaly
DeveloperThales Alenia Space Italy, Airbus Defence and Space
OperatorESA
Launch dateUnion-2 (Russia)
Launch date03.04.2014 (Sentinel-1A),
26.04.2016 (Sentinel-1B)
Launching padKuru 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
Main areas of use of data obtained from Sentinel-1A, 1B spacecrafts:
  • 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
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