ESA Observing the Earth

Ready to build the Biomass forest mission

ESA and Airbus Defence and Space UK signed a €229 million contract on 29 April to build the next Earth Explorer: the Biomass satellite, due to begin its mission in 2021.

Call for media

Colourful Naukluft

Sentinel-1B first image

Sentinel-1B first image

Sentinel-1B delivers

Launched on 28 April from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, Sentinel-1B has produced its first images only two hours after the radar was switched on – a record time for a space radar.

Sentinel-1B delivers

Launched on 25 April from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, Sentinel-1B has produced its first images only two hours after the radar was switched on – a record time for a space radar.

Earth from Space

Earth from Space

Sentinel-1B spreads its wings

Following liftoff on 25 April from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, Sentinel-1B has opened its large solar wings and radar antenna.

Sentinel-1B spreads its wings

Following liftoff on 25 April from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, Sentinel-1B has opened its large solar wings and radar antenna.

Revisit the launch event

Launch replay

Sentinel-1B launched to complete radar pair

The second Sentinel-1 satellite – Sentinel-1B – was launched today to provide more ‘radar vision’ for Europe’s environmental Copernicus programme.

Sentinel-1B liftoff

Sentinel-1B liftoff

Sentinel-1B launch coundown resumed

Following an anomaly observed during the countdown for the launch of Soyuz flight VS14 carrying Sentinel-1B, the countdown on 24 April was halted. 

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Launch delay due to anomaly

Following an anomaly observed during the countdown for the launch of Soyuz flight VS14 carrying Sentinel-1B, the countdown was halted. 

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Sentinel-1B liftoff delayed another 24 hours

The latest meteorological observations indicate a 'red' weather conditions for the time of liftoff, initially set for Saturday 23 April 2016, therefore Arianespace has decided not to undertake final fueling operations with the launcher.

The launch vehicle and its payloads have been placed in stand-by mode, and maintained in fully safe conditions.

The new launch date is now set for Sunday 24 April 2016, at the precise moment of:

• 06:02:13 p.m., (Local time in French Guiana)
• 05:02:13 p.m., (in Washington, D.C.)
• 09:02:13 p.m., (UTC)
• 11:02:13 p.m., (in Paris)
• 00:02:13 a.m., (in Moscow) on April 24.

Sentinel-1B launch postponed

During the technical review prior to the start of Soyuz fueling, the availability of the launcher, satellites, ground facilities and the launch base was confirmed.

Radar vision

Dasht-e Kavir

The many faces of Earth

Teams ready for Sentinel-1B launch

A final, full rehearsal has confirmed that teams at ESA’s mission control are ready for tomorrow’s launch of the Sentinel-1B radar satellite. 

Sentinel-1 counts fish

Images from the Sentinel-1A satellite are being used to monitor aquaculture in the Mediterranean, in another example of the mission’s contribution to food security, as fisheries become the main source of seafood. 

Sentinel-1B in position for liftoff

With just two days to liftoff, the next Sentinel for Europe’s environmental monitoring programme in now poised high in the launch tower at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

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Follow the ESRIN event

Watch Sentinel-1B launch

Copernicus Masters opens for entries

In the past five years, Copernicus Masters has selected 39 winners out of more than 1200 applicants from 60 countries, who submitted some 700 cutting-edge business ideas.

Follow the launch event

Watch Sentinel-1B launch

Training beyond the expected

With rigorous training complete, satellite operations teams are ready to assume control of Sentinel-1B – and for any problems that might come along.

Earth from Space

Earth from Space

Sentinel-1 sees rice paddy drop in the Mekong Delta

Europe’s Sentinel-1A satellite has shown that the Mekong River Delta – one of the world’s major rice-growing areas – saw a significant drop in productivity over the past year, illustrating the effect of El Niño on food security.

Earth? An app for that

Irish mosaic

Call for Media

Nansen gives birth to two icebergs

Multiple satellites, including Europe’s Sentinels, have captured images of two large icebergs that broke away from Antarctica’s Nansen ice shelf on 7 April.

Earth from Space

Tracking ice

Hitching a ride with Sentinel-1B

The Sentinel-1B satellite is now fuelled and ready to join the Soyuz rocket that will take it into orbit on 22 April at 21:02 GMT (23:02 CEST). Once in orbit, it will provide radar images of Earth for Europe’s Copernicus environmental monitoring programme.

Ready for orbit

Bernese Alps

Bernese Alps

Earth from Space

Sentinel-3A feels the heat

Despite only being in orbit a matter of weeks, Sentinel-3A has already delivered some impressive first images. With the thermal-infrared channels now turned on, the satellite completes its set of firsts with a view of ocean features off the coast of Namibia.

Sentinel-3: even better

Earth from Space

Australia ensured access to Sentinel data

ESA and Australia's national geological survey, Geoscience Australia, today agreed to cooperate to ensure data from the EU’s Sentinel satellites are accessible in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.

Australia ensured access to Sentinel data

ESA and Australia'snational geological survey, Geoscience Australia, today agreed to cooperate to ensure data from the EU’s Sentinel satellites are accessible in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.

Etosha

Earth from Space

Radar vision

Forest damage

Yuma chequerboard

Earth from Space

Sentinel data wanted

ESA has agreed with NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the US Geological Survey (USGS) to make data available to them from the European Sentinel satellites.

Cyprus

Earth from Space

Preparing for more radar vision

The Sentinel-1B satellite has arrived in French Guiana to be prepared for liftoff on 22 April. It will join its identical twin, Sentinel-1A, in orbit to provide more radar views of Earth for Europe’s Copernicus environmental monitoring effort.

Sentinel-3A continues to impress

The three instruments on the Sentinel-3A satellite are now offering a tantalising glimpse of what’s in store for Europe’s Copernicus environmental monitoring effort. The latest images, which feature Europe and Antarctica, come from the sensor that records Earth’s radiant energy.

Earth from Space

Earth from Space

Sentinel-3A rides the waves

Following the first impressive images from Sentinel-3A, this latest Copernicus satellite is now showing us how another of its instruments, an altimeter, will track sea-level change.

Puzzle of Utah

Focus on Gabon forests for Biomass

With deforestation accounting for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions, satellite observations have an important role to play in mapping this changing ecosystem. ESA is therefore going to great lengths to make sure a new sensor will live up to its promise.

Earth from Space

Sentinel-3A timelapse

Sentinel-3A first images

First views of Earth from Sentinel-3A

Just two weeks after launch, the latest Sentinel satellite has offered a taster of what it will provide for the EU’s Copernicus programme.

Images at lightspeed

Earth from Space

Earth from Space

Keeping transport systems on track

Operators of UK transport networks are the first who are set to benefit from Live Land, a satellite-based land monitoring system developed through ESA. 

Eastern Desert

ESA and SAP cooperate in using satellite data

ESA and the software company SAP have signed a letter of intent to develop innovative approaches for the quick and efficient processing of large amounts of Earth observation data through access to processing platforms.

Earth from Space

Earth from Space

Nonstop LEOP full stop

Working around the clock, mission teams have brought Sentinel-3A through the critical ‘launch and early orbit phase’ in just 49 hours, much earlier than planned and a record for such a complex satellite. 

World’s corals under threat

The current El Niño weather phenomenon is taking its toll on coral reefs, prompting a field campaign to the middle of the Pacific Ocean to explore how Europe’s Sentinel-2 satellite might be able to quantify the damage on a large scale.

Sentinel-3 and the ocean carbon conundrum

Each year, about a quarter of the carbon dioxide we release into the atmosphere ends up in the ocean, but how it happens is still not fully understood. The Sentinel-3A satellite is poised to play an important role in shedding new light on this exchange.

And the award goes to…

New challenges and opportunities arise as Europe’s Copernicus programme continues to launch the Sentinel satellites, converting their data into accessible products that can benefit citizens. The Space App Camps give developers the chance to deliver data from these and other satellites to the everyday user, via mobile apps.

Dancing with Aurora

French synergy

Sentinel-3A dances with northern lights

A surprising view of Sentinel-3A darting through the green flicker of the aurora borealis on its way into orbit has been captured on video from a hilltop in northern Finland.

Climate Service workshop

Earth from Space

App Camp begins

Third Sentinel in orbit

Third Sentinel satellite launched for Copernicus

The third ESA-developed satellite carrying four Earth-observing instruments was launched today, ready to provide a ‘bigger picture’ for Europe’s Copernicus environment programme.

Revisit the launch

Liftoff replay

Liftoff replay

Launch replay

Eye on oceans

All dressed up with somewhere to go

Yesterday, a ‘team of teams’ working at ESA’s control centre conducted a final rehearsal for tomorrow’s launch of Sentinel-3A.

Follow the launch event

Living Planet doors open

Sentinel-3A poised for liftoff

With four days to liftoff, the next Sentinel satellite for Copernicus is now on the launch pad at the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia.

The rocket will be fuelled the day before the launch – set for 16 February at 17:57 GMT (18:57 CET).

The Sentinel family

Madrid

Earth from Space

Sentinel-3 family grows

The signature of a €450 million contract to build two more satellites for the Sentinel-3 mission was celebrated by ESA and Thales Alenia Space of France at an event in Paris yesterday.

Nature valued from space

Earth from Space

Antarctic ice safety band at risk

Antarctica is surrounded by huge ice shelves. New research, using ice velocity data from satellites such as ESA’s heritage Envisat, has revealed that there is a critical point where these shelves act as a safety band, holding back the ice that flows towards the sea. If lost, it could be the point of no return.

Antarctic ice safety band at risk

Antarctica is surrounded by huge ice shelves. New research, which includes using data from satellites such as ESA’s heritage Envisat, has revealed that there is a critical point where these shelves act as a safety band, holding back the ice that flows towards the sea. If lost, it could be the point of no return.

Antarctic ice safety band at risk

Antarctica is surrounded by huge ice shelves. New research, using ice velocity data from satellites such as ESA’s heritage Envisat, has revealed that there is a critical point where these shelves act as a safety band, holding back the ice that flows towards the sea. If lost, it could be the point of no return.

Earth from Space

Proba-V eyes Bolivia’s vanishing lake

Monitoring Earth’s surface every day, ESA’s Proba-V minisatellite has had a ringside seat as the second largest lake in Bolivia gradually dried up. Lake Poopó has now been declared fully evaporated.

Mission teams prepare for critical days

Moments after Sentinel-3A separates from its rocket, a team of European mission control specialists will assume control, shepherding the new spacecraft through its critical first days in space.

Colours of Sweden

Colours of Sweden

Colours of Sweden

Earth from Space

Sentinel-3A fully tanked

With the launch of Sentinel-3A confirmed for 16 February, preparations for liftoff are charging full speed ahead. The tricky task of fuelling the satellite has now been ticked off the ‘to do list’ and the propulsion team is already decontaminating their equipment before returning home.