| Sentinel-2A | |
| Mission Type: | Earth observation |
| Operator: | ESA |
| Cospar Id: | 2015-028A |
| Satcat: | 40697 |
| Mission Duration: | Planned: 7 years[1] Elapsed: |
| Spacecraft Type: | Sentinel-2 |
| Manufacturer: | Airbus Defence and Space |
| Dry Mass: | 1017kg (2,242lb) |
| Launch Mass: | 1140kg (2,510lb) |
| Dimensions: | 3.4x |
| Power: | 1700 watts |
| Launch Date: | UTC[2] |
| Launch Rocket: | Vega (VV05) |
| Launch Site: | Kourou SLV |
| Launch Contractor: | Arianespace |
| Orbit Reference: | Geocentric |
| Orbit Regime: | Low Earth |
| Orbit Semimajor: | 7167.1km (4,453.4miles) |
| Orbit Eccentricity: | 0.000127 |
| Orbit Periapsis: | 788.06km (489.68miles) |
| Orbit Apoapsis: | 789.87km (490.8miles) |
| Orbit Inclination: | 98.5623° |
| Orbit Period: | 100.65 minutes |
| Orbit Epoch: | 9 March 2017, 21:05:23 UTC[3] |
| Apsis: | gee |
| Instruments: | Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) |
| Trans Band: | S band (TT&C support) X band and optical laser through EDRS (data acquisition) |
| Trans Bandwidth: | 64 kbit/s upload (S band) 128 kbit/s - 2 Mbit/s down (S band) 520 Mbit/s down (X band/Optical) |
| Programme: | Sentinel-2 |
| Next Mission: | Sentinel-2B |
Sentinel-2A is a European optical imaging satellite launched in 2015. It is the first Sentinel-2 satellite launched as part of the European Space Agency's Copernicus Programme. The satellite carries a wide swath high-resolution multispectral imager with 13 spectral bands. Its observations support services such as forest monitoring, land cover change-detection, natural disaster management and water quality monitoring.[4]
On 7 March 2017 the Sentinel-2A was joined in orbit by its sister satellite, Sentinel-2B.
Sentinel 2A was launched by the Vega VV05 rocket on 23 June 2015 at 01:52 UTC. The satellite separated from the upper stage 54 min 43 s after liftoff.[5]
The satellite captured its first image 100 hours after launch, covering a 290km (180miles) wide swath from Sweden through Central Europe to Algeria.[6] [7] Commissioning occurred in October 2015.[7]
Between 20 and 23 January 2017 the spacecraft suffered a mission planning anomaly which resulted in loss of data from its instrument, the Multi-Spectral Imager.[8]