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Sentinel-1D

Sentinel-1D is a C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite developed and operated by ESA as part of the Copernicus Earth observation programme, on behalf of the European Commission.[1] Airbus Defence and Space served as prime contractor. Sentinel-1D was launched 2025-11-04 on an Ariane 6 rocket (Arianespace flight VA265) and completed in-orbit commissioning on 2026-05-01.[2] [3] User data access opened on 2026-04-17.[4]

Sentinel-1D carries a C-SAR instrument operating at 5.405 GHz (C-band) plus an Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver. Four imaging modes are available:[5]

Mode Swath Resolution
Interferometric Wide Swath (IW) 250 km 5x20 m
Extra Wide Swath (EW) 400 km 20x40 m
Stripmap (SM) 80 km 5x5 m
Wave (WV) 20x20 km vignettes at 100 km intervals 5x5 m

Sentinel-1D orbits at 693 km in a Sun-synchronous polar configuration with an 18:00 local time descending node.[6] It is the fourth satellite in the Sentinel-1 series. The pairing of Sentinel-1C and Sentinel-1D gives a six-day revisit cycle with a one-day ground-track offset between the two satellites. Three-satellite operations with 1A, 1C, and 1D ran from mid-April to approximately mid-June 2026; the final operational pair is 1C and 1D, with Sentinel-1A scheduled for phase-out circa July 2026.[7] Sentinel-1B ended operations in August 2022.

Sentinel-1D and Sentinel-1C both carry a new separation mechanism to reduce space debris risk, a design change relative to Sentinel-1A and 1B.[6] Tasking is not supported; Sentinel-1D operates as an open-access, observation-mode instrument.

Full specification

All fields

current statusOperational
operatorEuropean Space Agency
launch vehicleArianespace Vega C
Launched2025-11-04
orbit typeSun-synchronous, 693 km, polar, 18:00 LTDN (constellation design)
swath km250
revisit days12
tasking supportedNo
archive depth years1
Last updated2026-05-24
claim statusAgency-sourced

Supply chain position

carries instrument C-SAR
operated by European Space Agency
launched on Arianespace Vega C
InSAR - surface deformation → demonstrated C-SAR
Polarimetric SAR - target decomposition → capable C-SAR
SAR backscatter imaging → demonstrated C-SAR
Sources
Cite https://eo-atlas.org/missions/sentinel-1d Markdown twin → Field definitions → Suggest a correction →
How to cite this page

Plain text

Sentinel-1D. EO-Atlas, SpectraWorks B.V., last reviewed 2026-05-24. https://eo-atlas.org/missions/sentinel-1d (CC BY 4.0)

BibTeX

@misc{eoatlas:missions:sentinel-1d,
  title = {Sentinel-1D},
  author = {{EO-Atlas}},
  publisher = {SpectraWorks B.V.},
  year = {2026},
  note = {Last reviewed 2026-05-24. CC BY 4.0},
  url = {https://eo-atlas.org/missions/sentinel-1d}
}