The Sentinel satellites are the key element of the Copernicus Programme. Instead of installing as many measurement instruments as possible on a single satellite, as was the case with ENVISAT, each orbiting Sentinel satellite has its own measurement process. For reasons of high reliability and regular coverage of Earth's surface, each series will be based on a constellation of two satellites always operating in orbit. Most of the Sentinel satellites are designed and operated by ESA. The Copernicus instruments involved in atmospheric and climate measurements – specifically Sentinel-4 and 5 -- will be carried on planned meteorological EUMESAT satellites to complement other measurements on EUMETSAT polar orbiting and geostationary satellites.
The table below lists the series of current Sentinel satellites and their applications.
Sentinel-1/ 2014
C-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR); 5 m – 40 m Resolution
Sentinel-2/ 2015
MSI (Multi Spectral Instrument) 13 spectral bands 10 m, 20 m and 60 m spatial resolution
Sentinel-3/ 2016
OLCI (Ocean and Land Colour Instrument); 21 spectral bands at 300 m resolution SLSTR (Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer); SRAL (Radar Altimeter); MWR (Microwave Radiometer)
Sentinel-4/ 2022 (geostationär)
UVN Instrument: high resolution spectrometer (305-400 nm) (400-500 nm) (750-775 nm) 8 km spatial resolution
Sentinel-5 Precursor/ 2017
UV-VIS-NIR-SWIR TROPOMI spektral range: 270-495 nm, 710-775 nm, 2305-2385 nm ground resolution: 7x3,5 km²
Sentinel-5/ 2021
high resolution spectrometer spectral range: 270-370 nm, 370-500, 685-773 nm, 1590-1675 & 2305-2385 nm ground resolution: 7x3,5 km²
Sentinel-6/ 2020
Poseidon-4 (SAR Radar Altimeter) AMR-C (Climate-quality microwave radiometer)
The current Copernicus Sentinel fleet (see link), is being expanded to include High Priority Candidate Missions (HPCM) to fill identified data gaps and to better accommodate additional applications. Six such HPCM missions have been defined and are under construction.