Sentinel-1 is Europe's radar Earth observation mission, providing an all-weather, day-and-night supply of imagery of Earth's surface using an advanced radar instrument. The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission is designed as a two-satellite constellation to support land and ocean monitoring and emergency response.
generations
Sentinel-1 Next GenerationESA awarded Thales Alenia Space the contract to lead development and build of two Copernicus Sentinel-1 Next Generation satellites, delivering a fourfold improvement in geometric resolution (5 m x 5 m versus 5 m x 20 m today) with coverage extended to the polar regions. as of 2026-07-13
imaging modes
Stripmapresolution5 mswath80 km
Interferometric Wide swath (5 m x 20 m)resolutionnot statedswath250 km
Extra Wide swath (20 m x 40 m)resolutionnot statedswath410 km
Wave (5 m x 20 m, 20 km x 20 km vignettes)resolutionnot statedswath20 km
facts
operatorEuropean Space Agency (ESA)
countryEuropean Union
sensor typessar
sats launchedtotal4
sats activeclaimed2
sats activeverified4
sats planned2
orbit693 km orbit altitude
first launch2014-04-03
latest launch2025-11-04
statusoperational
websiteesa.int
resolutionm5
revisitrepeat cycle of 12 days per satellite; six days with both satellites operating
spectral bandsC-band
sats active (verified) counts objects currently tracked in CelesTrak's catalog for this constellation. It is a tracking count, not an operator claim about satellite health.
orbit
sats launchedtotal4
sats activeclaimed2
sats activeverified4
sats planned2
orbit693 km orbit altitude
crawled events
timeline
- 20262026-06-10ESA awards Thales Alenia Space contract for Sentinel-1 Next Generation satellitesas of 2026-07-12
- 20252025-11-04Sentinel-1D launches on Ariane 6 from Kourou, joining Sentinel-1C in orbitas of 2026-07-12
- 20242024-12-05Sentinel-1C launches on Vega-C's return-to-flight mission from Kourouas of 2026-07-12
- 20222022-08-03ESA declares Sentinel-1B mission over after unrecoverable power failureas of 2026-07-12
- 20162016-04-25Sentinel-1B launches on Soyuz from Kourou, completing the radar pairas of 2026-07-12
- 20142014-04-03Sentinel-1A launches on Soyuz from French Guiana, opening the Sentinel seriesas of 2026-07-12
sources
[1] esa.int ↗
sensor typesfirst-party2026-07-05sats active (claimed)first-party2026-07-06sats plannedfirst-party2026-07-12orbitfirst-party2026-07-05first launchfirst-party2026-07-05latest launchfirst-party2026-07-05statusfirst-party2026-07-05websitefirst-party2026-07-05
[4] celestrak.org ↗
sats active (verified)computed2026-11-06
faq
Who operates Sentinel-1?
Sentinel-1 is operated by European Space Agency (ESA). as of 2026-07-05
How many Sentinel-1 satellites are active on orbit?
CelesTrak's catalog currently tracks 4 objects for Sentinel-1. as of 2026-11-06
When did Sentinel-1 first launch?
Sentinel-1 first launched on 2014-04-03. as of 2026-07-05