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The Copernicus Sentinel satellites

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.

	Mission/ Launch/ Main Instruments	Application Areas
	Sentinel-1/ 2014 C-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR); 5 m – 40 m Resolution	Ocean and ice monitoring, glacier flow velocity monitoring, snow classification, maritime monitoring, ship and oil detection, wind and wave information, ground moisture, ground movement (interferometry, et al. in earthquake and volcano regions), flood monitoring
	Sentinel-2/ 2015 MSI (Multi Spectral Instrument) 13 spectral bands 10 m, 20 m and 60 m spatial resolution	European, wide coverage, high resolution superspectral mission for land observation data continuity, e.g., agricultural monitoring, areal extent of fires
	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)	European global land and ocean mission, global coverage every 2 days. For land and ocean monitoring, e.g., recording of areal extent of fires and sea level fluctuations, water surface temperature mapping
	Sentinel-4/ 2022 (geostationär) UVN Instrument: high resolution spectrometer (305-400 nm) (400-500 nm) (750-775 nm) 8 km spatial resolution	Continuous monitoring of atmospheric trace gases over Europe (geostationary). Trace gases such as O3, NO2, SO2, HCHO, aerosols with high temporal resolution (~ 1 hour)
	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	Customized global monitoring of the atmosphere and its trace gases at high geometric resolution. Trace gases such as O3, NO2, SO2, HCHO, aerosols. Precursor mission to Sentinel-5
	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	Customized global monitoring of the atmosphere and its trace gases at high geometric resolution. Trace gases such as O3, NO2, SO2, HCHO, aerosols
	Sentinel-6/ 2020 Poseidon-4 (SAR Radar Altimeter) AMR-C (Climate-quality microwave radiometer)	Continuity of high-precision measurement of ocean surface topography to obtain data on changes to climate and environment

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.