earth observation

Combining high-resolution
and novel multispectral
capabilities, with frequent
revisit times, the new
Sentinel-2 mission offers
views of Earth’s changing
lands in unprecedented
detail (ESA/ATG medialab)

2 www.esa.int
 → copernicus
→ COLOUR VISION
FOR COPERNICUS
The story of Sentinel-2
ESA’s Sentinel-2 team
Directorate of Earth Observation, ESTEC, Noordwijk,
the Netherlands & ESRIN, Frascati, Italy

Directorate of Human Spaceflight and Operations,

ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany

European Space Agency | Bulletin 161 | 1st quarter 2015 3

earth observation

↑ Sentinel-2A in the thermal vacuum chamber during testing at IABG in Munich, Germany (IABG)

The launch of the Sentinel-2A satellite in a few Following on from the Sentinel-1A radar satellite, Sentinel-2A
weeks is set to open a new chapter in our ability to is the next in ESA’s fleet of satellites dedicated to Europe’s
monitor the health of Earth’s vegetation and track Copernicus programme – the largest environmental
changes in the way land is used. monitoring programme in the world.

Carrying a novel multispectral imager, this state-of-the- Managing Earth from space: a new era
art mission will provide information that will not only
help improve agricultural practices and map changes The European Commission’s Copernicus programme has
in land cover, but also monitor the world’s forests and been put in place to help manage the environment more
detect pollution in lakes and coastal waters. In addition, effectively and help respond to the challenges of global
images of floods, volcanic eruptions and landslides will change. This innovative global monitoring initiative offers a
contribute to disaster mapping and help humanitarian set of key information services for a wide range of practical
relief efforts. applications.

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 → copernicus
Since the provision of accurate data is central to Copernicus, Following completion of testing at the IABG test centre in
ESA has been tasked with coordinating the programme’s Germany, Sentinel-2A will be ready for launch on a Vega
‘space component’, which includes developing six Sentinel rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana in June 2015.
missions, their ground segment and user interfaces. Each
mission carries different technology to deliver a stream of
complementary imagery and data tailored to the needs of Rising to the challenge
Copernicus users. Importantly, these data are open to users Seven years in the making, this novel mission has been built
worldwide and are available free of charge. to operate for more than 20 years. Ensuring that it will meet
users’ exacting requirements has been a challenging task.
The first satellite in the series, Sentinel-1A, was launched into Developing Sentinel-2 has involved a number of technical
orbit in April 2014 and is now delivering operational radar challenges, from early specification in 2007 to qualification
images for numerous applications including the monitoring and acceptance in 2015.
of ice in the polar oceans and tracking land subsidence.
The satellite requires excellent pointing accuracy and
In June 2015, it will be followed by Sentinel-2A, which carries stability and, therefore, high-end orbit and attitude control
a high-resolution multispectral optical imager with 13 sensors and actuators. The multispectral imager is the most
spectral bands to offer a new perspective of our land and advanced of its kind, integrating two large visible near-
vegetation. The combination of high spatial resolution, infrared and shortwave infrared focal planes, each equipped
advanced multispectral imaging capabilities, a very wide with 12 detectors and integrating 450 000 pixels.
swath of 290 km and frequent revisit times make this
mission exceptional. Pixels that may fail in the course of the mission can be
replaced by redundant pixels. Two kinds of detectors
As with most of the Sentinel missions, Sentinel-2 is based on integrate high-quality filters to isolate the spectral bands
a constellation of two identical satellites launched around perfectly. The instrument’s opto-mechanical stability must
a year apart. Orbiting 180° apart, they will cover all Earth’s be extremely high, which has meant the use of silicon
land surfaces, inland and coastal waters between 84°N and carbide ceramic for its three mirrors and focal plane, and for
56°S every five days. the telescope structure itself.

In partnership The geometric performance requires strong uniformity across

the focal planes to avoid image distortion. The radiometric
The Sentinel-2 mission has been made possible thanks performance excluded any compromise regarding stray light,
to the close collaboration between ESA, the European dictating a tight geometry and arrangement of all the optical
Commission, industry, service providers and data users. and mechanical elements. The instrument is equipped with
Demonstrating Europe’s technological excellence, its a calibration and shutter mechanism that integrates a large
development has involved around 60 companies, led by spectralon sunlight diffuser.
Airbus Defence and Space in Germany for the satellites and
Airbus Defence and Space in France for the multispectral Each satellite has a high level of autonomy, so that
instruments. they can operate without any intervention from the ground

The mission has been supported in kind by the

French space agency CNES to provide
expertise in image processing and
calibration, and by the German
Aerospace Center DLR that provides
the optical communication
payload, developed by Tesat
Spacecom GmbH.

This piece of technology allows the ↑

Sentinel-2 satellites to transmit data via
laser to satellites in geostationary orbit Developed for Europe’s Copernicus programme,
carrying the European Data Relay System the Sentinel-2 satellite carries an optical
(EDRS). This new space data highway allows payload with visible, near-infrared and
large volumes of data to be relayed very quickly shortwave infrared sensors (ESA/ATG medialab)
so that information can be even more readily
available for users.

European Space Agency | Bulletin 161 | 1st quarter 2015 5

earth observation

for periods of up to 15 days. This requires sophisticated system uses tight quality-monitoring functions and key
autonomous failure analysis, detection and correction on performance indicators that will be made available to the
board. users throughout the duration of the mission.

The ‘carpet mapping’ imaging plan requires acquisition,

storage and transmission of 1.6 terabytes per orbit. This Essential ground work
massive data blast results from the combination of the 290 It is vital to make sure that the eventual data meets the
km swath with 13 spectral channels at a spatial resolution as users’ exacting requirements, so efforts are put into field
high as 10 m. and airborne campaigns to assess the future performance of
an instrument. This means that many airborne and ground
In addition, the optical communication payload using the measurements have to be made so that the final data
EDRS data link is a new technology that will improve the products can be simulated and evaluated.
amount and speed of data delivery to the users. This was
very recently demonstrated by Sentinel-1A, which also The field campaigns for Sentinel-2 involved taking
carries an optical communication payload. measurements over fields and forests with an airborne
imaging spectrometer. These data are complemented
Preparing the ground system to process the huge flow of by coincident measurements taken from the ground to
data, including all the necessary geometric, radiometric calibrate and validate those from the aircraft. The field
and atmospheric corrections, in real time has also been no campaigns formed an essential role in preparing the user
mean feat. And, being an operational mission, the ground community for Sentinel-2A’s upcoming data products. Such
campaigns will continue once Sentinel-2A is in orbit to help
validate its data.

Land in focus
Ensuring that land is used sustainably, while meeting the
food and wood demands of a growing global population
– a projected eight billion by 2020 – is one of today’s

↑ Sentinel-2’s multispectral instrument performance

tests at Centre Spatial de Liège, Belgium (CSL)

↑ Scientists from the University of Milan taking part in a

↑ Solar array deployment tests at IABG in Munich, field campaign to support Sentinel-2
Germany (ESA) (ESA/D. Schuettemeyer)

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 → copernicus
and only 10 days with Sentinel-2A alone, along with the
mission’s range of spectral bands means that changes in
plant health and growth status can be easily monitored.

Sentinel-2 will also provide information about changes

in land cover so that areas that have been damaged or
destroyed by fire, for example, or affected by deforestation,
can be monitored. Urban growth also can be tracked.

The Copernicus services are managed by the European

Commission. The five ‘pan-European’ themes covering
39 countries are addressed by the land service, including
sealed soil (imperviousness), tree cover density, forest type,
and grasslands. There is currently insufficient cloud-free
satellite data in high resolution with all the necessary
spectral bands that cover Europe fast enough to monitor
vegetation when it is growing rapidly in the summer.
Sentinel-2 will fill this gap.

This multi-talented mission will also provide information

on pollution in lakes and coastal waters at high spatial
resolution and with frequent coverage. Frequent coverage
is also key to monitoring floods, volcanic eruptions and
landslides. This means that Sentinel-2 can contribute to
disaster mapping and support humanitarian aid work.
↑ Sentinel-2 offers key information to optimise crop yield
(A. Krappweis) Leading edge
The span of 13 spectral bands, from the visible and the
near-infrared to the shortwave infrared at different spatial
biggest challenges. The Copernicus land service provides resolutions ranging from 10 to 60 m on the ground, takes
information to help respond to global issues such as this, global land monitoring to an unprecedented level.
as well as focusing on local matters, or ‘hotspots’, that are
prone to specific challenges. The four bands at 10 m resolution ensure continuity with
missions such as SPOT-5 or Landsat 8 and address user
However, this service relies on very fast revisit times, timely requirements, in particular, for basic land-cover classification.
and accurate satellite data in order to make meaningful The six bands at 20 m resolution satisfy requirements for
information available to users – hence, the role of Sentinel-2. enhanced land-cover classification and for the retrieval of
Through the service, users will have access to information geophysical parameters. Bands at 60 m are dedicated mainly
about the health of our vegetation so that informed to atmospheric corrections and cirrus-cloud screening.
decisions can be made – whether about addressing climate
change or how much water and fertiliser are needed for a In addition, Sentinel-2 is the first civil optical Earth observation
maximum harvest. mission of its kind to include three bands in the ‘red edge’,
which provide key information on the vegetation state.
Sentinel-2 is able to distinguish between different crop types
and will deliver timely data on numerous plant indices, Thanks to its high temporal and spatial resolution and to
such as leaf area index, leaf chlorophyll content and leaf its three red edge bands, Sentinel-2 will be able to see very
water content – all of which are essential to accurately early changes in plant health. This is particularly useful for
monitor plant growth. This kind of information is essential the end users and policy makers to detect early signs of food
for precision farming: helping farmers decide how best to shortages in developing countries.
nurture their crops and predict their yield.
Getting ready for launch
While this has obvious economic benefits, this kind of
information is also important for developing countries Following the completion of the test campaign at IABG
where food security is an issue. The mission’s fast geometric in Germany, the Qualification and Acceptance Review
revisit of just five days, when both satellites are operational, will be held in April 2015 to assess the compliance

European Space Agency | Bulletin 161 | 1st quarter 2015 7

earth observation
→

This wide view of Lake

Constance and part of
southern Germany, eastern
France and northern
Switzerland simulates
Sentinel-2’s large swath width
of 290 km. The four zoomed-
in pairs of images focus on
a 25 km-wide area east of
Lake Constance at 10–20 m
resolution in natural colour
(left) and in infrared.

and completeness of the verification and qualification →

programme. In parallel, the Ground System Acceptance
Review will be held to evaluate the ground system dedicated The infrared view
to mission operations and exploitation, and to review the on the right of each
status of operations preparations. pair shows bodies of
water, such as smaller
A positive outcome of these reviews will mean that lakes, in greater detail
the satellite and its ground support equipment can be packed and allows us to
and shipped to Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. better see differences
in vegetation, with
A five-week launch campaign will prepare Sentinel-2A for dark red to light
launch in June 2015. ESA’s European Space Operations Centre green depicting high
will operate both Sentinel-2 satellites, with CNES joining to low chlorophyll
forces to complete the full commissioning of the satellite content, respectively
and instrument in three months. Sentinel-2 is expected to be (Blackbridge)
operating routinely before the launch of the second satellite
in June 2016. ■

VIS NIR SWIR

B1 B9 B10

Aerosols Water-vapour Cirrus

60 Snow/ice/cloud discrimination
Snow/ice/cloud discrimination
B5 B7 B8a Vegetation status

Vegetation
red edge
20

B6 B11 B12

10

B2 B3 B4 B8
nm
400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400

↑ Spatial resolution versus wavelength: Sentinel-2’s span of 13 spectral bands, from the visible and the near-infrared to the shortwave
infrared at different spatial resolutions ranging from 10 to 60 m on the ground, takes land monitoring to an unprecedented level

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→ FACTS AND FIGURES
Sentinel-2A launch June 2015, by Vega from Kourou, French Guiana
Sentinel-2B launch July 2016, by Rockot from Plesetsk, Russia
Orbit Polar, Sun-synchronous at altitude 786 km
Mean Local Solar Time at descending node: 10:30 (optimum Sun illumination for image acquisition)
Geometric revisit time Five days from two-satellite constellation (at equator)
Life Seven years (carries consumable for 12 years: 123 kg of fuel including end of life deorbiting)
Multispectral instrument (MSI) Multispectral imager covering 13 spectral bands (443–2190 nm), with a swath width of 290 km and
a spatial resolution of 10 m (four visible and near-infrared bands), 20 m (six red edge and shortwave
infrared bands) and 60 m (three atmospheric correction bands).
Receiving stations MSI data: transmitted via X-band to core Sentinel ground stations and via laser link through EDRS.
Telecommand and telemetry data: transmitted from and to Kiruna, Sweden
Main applications Agriculture, forests, land-use change, land-cover change. Mapping biophysical variables such as leaf
chlorophyll content, leaf water content, leaf area index; monitoring coastal and inland waters; risk and
disaster mapping
Mission Managed, developed, operated and exploited by various ESA establishments
Funding ESA Member States and the European Union
Prime contractors Airbus Defence & Space Germany for the satellite, Airbus Defence & Space France for the instrument
Cooperation CNES: Image quality optimisation during in-orbit commissioning
DLR: Optical Communication Payload (provided in kind)
NASA: cross calibrations with Landsat-8

European Space Agency | Bulletin 161 | 1st quarter 2015 9