OBSERVER: Sentinel-2A extending operations to meet user needs
OBSERVER: Sentinel-2A extending operations to meet user needs
evan
Wed, 05/02/2025 – 16:32
Copernicus continues to demonstrate its responsiveness to the needs and demands of the user community with the recently announced exceptional and temporary extension of the availability of the data from the Sentinel-2A satellite mission for one year. In September 2024, the third Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite (Sentinel-2C) was successfully launched from the European Spaceport in French Guiana. Sentinel-2C was intended to gradually take over the tasks of Sentinel-2A as the latter approached the end of its nominal operational lifetime. However, while Sentinel-2C has now successfully completed its commissioning phase and has been handed over to the European Commission by the European Space Agency (ESA), the decision to keep Sentinel-2A operational reflects a commitment to maximising the capabilities of the flagship Earth Observation (EO) component of the EU Space Programme. This decision was driven by requests from the user community to continue having access to Sentinel-2A data, as the satellite remains in good health. With Sentinel-2A, 2B, and 2C in orbit, users will benefit from improved data availability, bolstering applications in many areas including environmental monitoring, emergency response, and other key areas.
Sentinel-2: three satellites working together
Between January and March 2025, Sentinel-2A will be manoeuvred into a new orbital position, shifting 36 degrees away from Sentinel-2B. This new configuration is designed to improve the availability of Sentinel-2 data, ensuring that Sentinel-2A continues systematic observations over Europe every 10 days, as with Sentinel-2B and Sentinel-2C, while providing an additional 20-day global cycle.
For the first time, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite mission will operate with three active satellites simultaneously in an exceptional and temporary configuration. Sentinel-2B and Sentinel-2C will be positioned in the same sun-synchronous orbit, with a phase difference of 180°, allowing for coordinated imagery acquisition. Meanwhile, Sentinel-2A will move into a complementary position 36° apart from Sentinel-2B, ensuring increased observation frequency, with additional Sentinel-2 observations occurring 2 days apart from Sentinel-2B and 1 day apart from Sentinel-2C.
Diagram showing the orbital configuration of the Sentinel-2 satellite mission with 3 operational satellites—S2C, S2B, and S2A. Credit: ESA.
This configuration will directly benefit end users by providing more up-to-date and frequent data for key applications, including land monitoring, emergency response, and climate change impact analysis. This exceptional one-year extension of Sentinel-2A’s operations underscores the commitment to maximising EO capabilities for operational and scientific communities.
This pilot activity, initiated by the European Commission, reflects the success of the Sentinel-2 mission and the importance of not only maintaining but expanding its operational capabilities. The extension will be subject to an assessment to evaluate its efficiency and potential continuation.
Christoph Kautz, Director for Satellite Navigation and Earth Observation at DG DEFIS commented on the recent decision:
‘Sentinel-2A will not retire yet. Copernicus is user-driven, and we listen to the users all the time. As of this March, Sentinel-2A will be operated to complement the Sentinel-2 mission data acquisition plan. This pilot activity will last one year. Afterward, together with ESA, we will assess the outcomes and decide on its potential prolongation.’
The European Commission’s decision to extend Sentinel-2A’s mission is a response to strong demand from a variety of users and stakeholders. This initiative ensures the continued collection of optical data while maintaining global coverage.
A man in a dark suit and glasses holds up a signed document while standing next to a smiling woman in a patterned jacket and dark trousers. They are in front of a blue backdrop displaying the text ‘THE EUROPEAN UNION SPACE PROGRAMME’ along with the European Commission logo and the hashtag #EUSpace. A European Union flag stands to their left, and a transparent podium with an EU emblem is positioned in front of them, holding a microphone.
The benefits of Sentinel-2A’s extended operations
The decision to extend Sentinel-2A’s mission brings clear advantages across multiple domains, improving land monitoring, disaster response, environmental protection, and scientific research. By ensuring more frequent and resilient data availability, the Sentinel-2 constellation will better serve policymakers, emergency responders, scientists, and service providers who rely on high-quality Earth Observation (EO) data.
More frequent observations will improve the ability to track vegetation changes, detect deforestation, and monitor urban expansion. The land monitoring community depends on regular, cloud-free revisits for land cover classification, biomass and crop yield estimation, and phenology monitoring. Coastal waters, which change rapidly, also require frequent, high-quality imaging. By keeping Sentinel-2A in service, these applications will continue to benefit from consistent and reliable data, reducing gaps caused by cloud cover and environmental variability.
Disaster management and emergency response applications will also see improvements. With three satellites in operation, authorities will benefit from more frequent imagery for tracking flood evolution, wildfire spread, and post-disaster recovery. More frequent observations improve the near real-time mapping of the consequences of disasters, ensuring emergency responders and humanitarian agencies have up-to-date situational awareness. In the case of wildfires, additional observations allow for better monitoring of burn scars, and further data useful for risk assessments to help mitigate future outbreaks.
Images shown at different points in time can present us with a different view and enable us to extract meaningful environmental information. Credit: European Union, Sentinel-2 imagery.
Beyond operational applications, extending Sentinel-2A supports the long-term objectives of Copernicus by ensuring greater data resilience. Maintaining three satellites provides redundancy, reducing the risk of interruptions in data availability. The additional global coverage allows policymakers, service providers, and researchers to monitor climate change-induced impacts, shifting coastlines, and the results of biodiversity conservation efforts with higher confidence. As Sentinel-2 data is integrated into the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, users will benefit from expanded access to high-quality Earth Observation data for agriculture, forestry, climate change mitigation, and environmental monitoring. This extension also supports EU policies such as the Green Deal, contributing to its goals of climate neutrality, and reinforces the EU’s commitment to delivering reliable and consistent satellite-based services which support critical societal, industry, and scientific needs.
The overall response from the user community has been overwhelmingly positive, with many researchers and operational users eager to leverage the increased data availability.
Looking ahead
As the extension period unwinds, the European Commission and ESA will evaluate its impact, with a review planned at the end of this first year to assess its efficiency. The findings will help determine the feasibility of further extending operations or transitioning to a standard two-satellite (Sentinel-2B/2C) constellation. Regardless of the outcome, this initiative underscores Copernicus’ dedication to providing users with the most comprehensive access to EO data possible.
With Sentinel-2A’s continued operation, the European Commission reaffirms its commitment to leveraging space assets for the benefit of society, reinforcing Europe’s leadership in Earth Observation. This strategic decision ensures that users across multiple sectors continue to receive the EO data they rely upon to make informed decisions and drive impactful policies.
Wed, 05/02/2025 – 12:00
