The Sentinel 1B satellite’s antenna. Photo: Airbus Defence and Space.

[Via Satellite 05-29-2015] Airbus Defence and Space has shipped the Sentinel 1B satellite’s C-band radar instrument to prime contractor Thales Alenia Space (TAS) Italy for integration and testing. Once complete, the Copernicus-program satellite is scheduled for launch in 2016, following which it will join the identical Sentinel 1A satellite. Copernicus is a European Commission-led operational program in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA).

The Sentinel 1 satellites’ Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has an active phased-array antenna measuring 12.30 meters by 0.90 meters including 560 C-band Transmit/Receive (T/R) modules developed by TAS Italy. The Sentinel 1 mission has been specially designed for a wide range of environmental tasks including surveillance of the maritime environment and monitoring of sea ice, oil spills, landslides and floods. It will assist in reconnaissance and operational support activities in response to natural disasters. To date more than 6,000 users have registered to access online data products from Sentinel 1A.