The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission provides colour vision for Copernicus through a constellation of two identical satellites in the same orbit. Each satellite carries an innovative wide swath high-resolution multispectral imager with 13 spectral bands, delivering 10 m resolution imagery with a 5-day revisit time over a 290 km swath, used for land monitoring.
facts
operatorEuropean Space Agency (ESA)
countryEuropean Union
sensor typesoptical, multispectral
sats launchedtotal3
sats activeclaimed3
sats activeverified3
sats planned2
orbitSun-synchronous at 786.0 km altitude
first launch2015-06-23
latest launch2024-09-05
statusactive
websiteesa.int
resolutionm10
swathkm290
revisitfive-day revisit time with two satellites
spectral bandsvisible, near-infrared, shortwave infrared, water vapor, cirrus
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 launchedtotal3
sats activeclaimed3
sats activeverified3
sats planned2
orbitSun-synchronous at 786.0 km altitude
timeline
- 20242024-09-05Sentinel-2C launches on Vega's final flight, joining the Copernicus familyas of 2026-07-12
- 20172017-03-07Sentinel-2B launches on Vega, doubling Sentinel-2 optical coverageas of 2026-07-12
- 20152015-06-23Sentinel-2A launches on Vega from Kourou, opening Copernicus optical imagingas of 2026-07-12
- 2015-06Sentinel-2A delivers its first images four days after launchas of 2026-07-12
- 20082008-04-17ESA signs Astrium to a EUR195 million contract for the first Sentinel-2 satelliteas of 2026-07-12
sources
[1] en.wikipedia.org ↗
operatorwikipedia2026-07-05countrywikipedia2026-07-05sats launched (total)wikipedia2026-07-06sats active (claimed)wikipedia2026-07-06orbitwikipedia2026-07-05statuswikipedia2026-07-05
[2] esa.int ↗
sensor typesfirst-party2026-07-05sats plannedfirst-party2026-07-12first launchfirst-party2026-07-05latest launchfirst-party2026-07-05websitefirst-party2026-07-05
[4] celestrak.org ↗
sats active (verified)computed2026-11-06
faq
Who operates Sentinel-2?
Sentinel-2 is operated by European Space Agency (ESA). as of 2026-07-05
How many Sentinel-2 satellites are active on orbit?
CelesTrak's catalog currently tracks 3 objects for Sentinel-2. as of 2026-11-06
When did Sentinel-2 first launch?
Sentinel-2 first launched on 2015-06-23. as of 2026-07-05