Science

SENTINEL-1D

C-band SAR Imaging (Copernicus — First Generation Complete) · ESA / Copernicus

Sentinel-1D, launched November 4, 2025 on the final flight completing Europe's first-generation Copernicus radar constellation — a 12-year journey that began with Sentinel-1A in 2014. Built by Thales Alenia Space, Sentinel-1D carries C-band synthetic aperture radar that images Earth's surface day or night, through cloud, storm, or complete darkness, and — like its sibling Sentinel-1C — a new AIS receiver that identifies ships by their transponder signals directly alongside the radar imagery of the vessels themselves. Declared fully operational May 1, 2026, it now flies a three-satellite overlap with Sentinel-1A and 1C through mid-2026 before gradually taking over Sentinel-1A's aging ground track, ensuring uninterrupted radar coverage of Earth's ice, oil spills, ship traffic, and land subsidence for at least another seven years.