Sentinel-2A

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. Its observations support services such as forest monitoring, land cover change-detection, natural disaster management and water quality monitoring.^[4]

Sentinel-2A

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: 10 years, 1 month, 10 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) 520 Mbit/s down (X band/Optical)
Instruments
Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI)
Sentinel-2 Sentinel-2B →

On 7 March 2017 the Sentinel-2A was joined in orbit by its sister satellite, Sentinel-2B.

Mission history

Launch

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.^[5]

Orbital operation

The satellite captured its first image 100 hours after launch, covering a 290 km (180 mi) wide swath from Sweden through Central Europe to Algeria.^[6][7]: 8 Commissioning occurred in October 2015.^[7]: 8

Between 20 and 23 January 2017 the spacecraft suffered a mission planning anomaly which resulted in loss of data from its instrument, the Multi-Spectral Imager.^[8]

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  Sentinel 2A's descending orbital path