# Sentinel-2B
*missions*

## Specifications
- **operator**: esa
- **platform**: sentinel-2-platform
- **actual launch**: 2017-03-07
- **current status**: extended
- **orbit type**: SSO 786 km, 10:30 LTDN
- **swath km**: 290
- **revisit days**: 10
- **paired revisit days**: 5
- **tasking supported**: false
- **archive depth years**: 9
- **current geographic priority**: Global land and coastal waters
- **launch vehicle**: arianespace-vega
- **entity type**: mission
- **last verified date**: 2026-06-14
- **verified by**: agency-doc
- **claim status**: agency-sourced
- **provider**: esa
- **attributes**: {"operator":"esa","platform":"sentinel-2-platform","actual_launch":"2017-03-07","current_status":"extended","orbit_type":"SSO 786 km, 10:30 LTDN","swath_km":290,"revisit_days":10,"paired_revisit_days":5,"tasking_supported":false,"archive_depth_years":9,"current_geographic_priority":"Global land and coastal waters","launch_vehicle":"arianespace-vega"}
- **relevance**: in-scope

## Editorial
Sentinel-2B is the second flight unit of ESA's Sentinel-2 constellation, part of the European Union Copernicus programme, launched on 7 March 2017 into a sun-synchronous orbit at 786 km altitude and 10:30 local time descending node.[^esa-sentinel-2] The satellite carries the Multispectral Instrument (MSI), which images in 13 spectral bands from 443 nm to 2190 nm with a 290 km swath and ground sampling distances of 10 m, 20 m, and 60 m depending on band.[^sentiwiki-s2-mission] Operating in a 180-degree phased pair with a constellation partner, Sentinel-2B provides a 10-day individual revisit and a 5-day combined revisit at the equator.[^sentiwiki-s2-mission] Principal applications include crop monitoring and agricultural area classification, forest and land-cover change detection, coastal and inland water quality assessment, and emergency risk mapping.[^esa-sentinel-2] The Sentinel-2 satellite system was developed by an industrial consortium led by Airbus Defence and Space.[^sentiwiki-s2-mission] Sentinel-2B is past its original 7.25-year design life; WMO OSCAR records its service status as operational[^wmo-oscar-s2b] while the EO-Atlas lifecycle class is set to extended to reflect the design-life exceedance.[^esa-s2-operations] As of early 2025, Sentinel-2B forms the nominal pair with Sentinel-2C following the transfer of duty from Sentinel-2A on 21 January 2025.[^s2c-transfer-duty]

## Compositional position
- Sentinel-2B --[mission_payloads]--> msi (products)
- Sentinel-2B --[data_products_from_missions]--> sentinel-2-l2a (data_products)
- Sentinel-2B --[related-topic]--> land-cover-change (topics)
- Sentinel-2B --[related-topic]--> crop-stress (topics)
- Sentinel-2B --[related-topic]--> coastal-water-quality (topics)
- Sentinel-2B --[related-topic]--> inland-water (topics)

## Sources
- [sentiwiki-s2-mission] | S2 Mission, Copernicus SentiWiki | https://sentiwiki.copernicus.eu/web/s2-mission | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14
- [esa-sentinel-2] | Sentinel-2, European Space Agency | https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sentinel-2 | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14
- [esa-s2-operations] | Sentinel-2 operations, European Space Agency | https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Operations/Sentinel-2_operations | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14
- [s2c-transfer-duty] | Transfer of Duty from Sentinel-2A to Sentinel-2C on 21 January 2025 | https://dataspace.copernicus.eu/news/2025-1-8-copernicus-sentinel-2-mission-update-transfer-duty-sentinel-2a-sentinel-2c-21-january | tier=operator-press | accessed=2026-06-14 | published=2025-01-08
- [wmo-oscar-s2b] | WMO OSCAR satellite record: Sentinel-2B | https://space.oscar.wmo.int/satellites/view/sentinel_2b | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14

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Source: https://eo-atlas.org/missions/sentinel-2b
Maintainer: SpectraWorks B.V. (CC-BY 4.0)