Thales Alenia Space and Airbus Defense and Space have been awarded contracts to build next-generation radar satellites for Europe's Copernicus Earth observation program.
10 June 2026 European Space Agency (THIS) reported, which selected Thales to build two Sentinel-1 Next Generation satellites (of), and Airbus will provide the radar payloads. The two companies served in similar roles during the development of the previous Sentinel-1 satellites.
Sentinel-1 NG satellites will be the fifth and sixth in the overall line of Sentinel-1 missions, equipped with synthetic aperture radar payloads (SAR) for earth science applications. Three previous devices — Sentinel-1A, -1C and -1D are currently in operation, while Sentinel-1B failed in orbit at the end 2021 year. Sentinel-1 NG will provide improvements over previous Sentinel-1 satellites, including improved geometric resolution 5 on 5 meters compared to 5 on 20 meters in operating devices. The satellites will also be able to operate in modes with a larger coverage bandwidth 400 km compared to 250 km and observe the poles using active beam steering.
The Sentinel-1 missions are part of the wider Copernicus programme, which is jointly implemented by ESA and the European Commission, для надання даних спостереження Землі за допомогою широкого спектру інструментів. ESA ще не оголосила коли відбудеться запуск супутників Sentinel-1 NG, але вони навряд чи будуть готові до початку 2030-х років. Airbus у своїй заяві про контракт спрогнозувала перший запуск у 2034 year. Sentinel-1A вже понад десять років на орбіті, Sentinel-1C було запущено в грудні 2024 year, Sentinel-1D — у листопаді 2025 year, і кожен має номінальний термін служби сім років.
Source: https://spacenews.com