Copernicus Programme levels up with Sentinel-2C in orbit

A brand-new Copernicus Sentinel satellite was successfully launched last night from the European Spaceport in French Guiana, onboard a Vega rocket operated by Arianespace on September 5 at 03:50 am CET or September 4, 22:50 pm local time. The satellite sent its first signal down to Earth at 05:02 CET, indicating that it was successfully placed into orbit. 

To continue delivering cutting-edge Earth Observation data and services freely, to public and private users, the European Commission launched an additional Copernicus Sentinel satellite, called Sentinel-2C. The launch is a result of cooperation with trusted partners, the European Space Agency and Arianespace.

Access to up-to-date optical data will allow public and private entities to improve their decision-making process and better address pressing environmental challenges such as wildfires, floods, and droughts. Other domains that will benefit from the increased provision of data will be agriculture, maritime, forestry and more.

Sentinel-2C also reinforces Copernicus, the world’s most advanced Earth Observation system, by ensuring system redundancy and resilience (e.g., in case of unavailability of one of the other two satellites.)

Copernicus Sentinel-2C will spend the coming months being calibrated before it becomes fully operational. Soon we will receive the first image of our planet. 

Read this: 7 Times the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission gave us stunning images of our planet

Galileo now supporting Copernicus ''operations''. 

While the resolution and number of bands are identical to its predecessors and users will not see any difference in the products, there is something novel about Copernicus Sentinel-2C.

To determine the satellite's location in space, we rely on its onboard satellite navigation system (GNSS). While the previous receiver was compatible only with GPS, the new one is also compatible with Galileo, the European Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). By receiving signals from both constellations, the navigation experience will be more robust and slightly more accurate. Another advantage is that the mission can now operate independently from GPS, in case it (GPS) becomes unavailable, increasing European autonomy and resilience in space.

Learn more about the mission