Sentinel-2A

Sentinel-2A is the first satellite of the European Space Agency's Copernicus Sentinel-2 constellation, launched on 23 June 2015 from Kourou, French Guiana aboard a Vega rocket ^[1]. The satellite was developed by an industrial consortium of more than 50 companies across 17 European countries and the USA, led by Airbus Defence and Space (formerly EADS-Astrium GmbH) in Friedrichshafen, Germany ^[2]. The Multispectral Instrument (MSI) was developed by Airbus Defence and Space in Toulouse, France ^[1].

The satellite operates in a sun-synchronous orbit at 786 km altitude with a local time of descending node (LTDN) of 10:30 hours, a 10-day ground track repeat cycle for a single satellite, and achieves a 5-day revisit at the equator when paired with Sentinel-2B ^[1]. The MSI payload delivers 13 spectral bands spanning 442.7 to 2202.4 nm (as characterised for Sentinel-2A) at 10 m, 20 m, and 60 m ground sampling distance across a 290 km swath ^[3].

Sentinel-2A was designed for a 7.25-year operational lifetime, with propellant provisioned for 12 years of operations including deorbit manoeuvres ^[1]. Having launched in June 2015, it exceeded its design lifetime in late 2022. In September 2024, Sentinel-2C was launched and, following commissioning, took over the nominal constellation slot previously held by Sentinel-2A on 21 January 2025 ^[4]. From end of January 2025, Sentinel-2A maneuvered to a new orbital position 36 degrees away from Sentinel-2B; the extended campaign began on 13 March 2025, with Sentinel-2A operating as a third satellite complementing the nominal Sentinel-2B/2C pair ^[5]. ESA and the European Commission extended this exceptional campaign until 31 December 2026 in a decision announced on 30 April 2026 ^[6].

As of May 2026, Sentinel-2A is in extended operations, past its 7.25-year design lifetime by approximately 3.5 years, and in good health. The three-satellite configuration provides observations of Europe every 10 days from each satellite (with Sentinel-2A in its non-standard slot), global coverage every 20 days, and enhanced revisit over tropical regions with persistent cloud cover ^[7].