Keynote: copernicus sentinel-1: satellite outline and early results

Paper number

IAC-14,B1,1,1,x26214

Author

Mr. Aniceto Panetti, Thales Alenia Space Italia, Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Friedhelm Rostan, Airbus Defence and Space, Germany

Coauthor

Dr. Michelangelo L'Abbate, Thales Alenia Space Italia, Italy

Coauthor

Dr. Claudio Bruno, Thales Alenia Space Italia, Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Roberto Baldassarri, Thales Alenia Space Italia, Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Antonio Bauleo, Thales Alenia Space Italia, Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Toni Catalano, Thales Alenia Space Italia, Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Marco Enrico Maria Cotogni, Thales Alenia Space Italia, Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Luigi Galvagni, Thales Alenia Space Italia, Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Fabio Ippoliti, Thales Alenia Space Italia, Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Pierluigi Petrini, Thales Alenia Space Italia, Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Sergio Pica, Thales Alenia Space Italia, Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Andrea Pietropaolo, Thales Alenia Space Italia, Italy

Coauthor

Ms. Francesca Spataro, Thales Alenia Space Italia, Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Giacomo Taini, Thales Alenia Space Italia, Italy

Coauthor

Dr. Paolo Venditti, Thales Alenia Space Italia, Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Mathias von Alberti, Airbus Defence and Space, Germany

Coauthor

Dr. Ramon Torres, European Space Agency (ESA), The Netherlands

Coauthor

Mr. Svein Lokas, European Space Agency (ESA), The Netherlands

Coauthor

Mr. David Bibby, ESA, The Netherlands

Year

2014

Abstract

The GMES Sentinel-1 Earth Radar Observatory, a project funded by the European Union and developed by ESA, is a constellation of two C-band radar satellites. The satellites have been conceived to be a continuous and reliable source of C-band SAR imagery for operational application such as mapping of global landmasses, coastal zones and monitoring of shipping routes. The Sentinel-1 satellites are built by an industrial consortium headed by Thales Alenia Space Italy as Prime Contractor. The paper presents an outline of the general satellite architecture, the spacecraft subsystems, AIT flow and satellite key performances. The GMES Sentinel-1 satellite represents the state of the art for a LEO spacecraft, in terms of SAR performances, avionics performances, data storage and transmission capability, optical communication link capability, electrical power generation and management and large payload accommodation capability of PRIMA bus.
The key payload is the C-SAR instrument, which has been developed and built under the responsibility of AIRBUS Defence & Space. The C-SAR Instrument has to provide a dual polarisation capability as well as four operational modes, i.e. Stripmap, Interferometric wideswath, Extra Wideswath as well as Wave Mode. These shall allow for resolutions of up to 5 m x 5 m as well as for swath widths up to 400 km. The demanding operational requirements require an active phased array antenna allowing a fast beam shaping and steering capability in both azimuth an elevation as well as a powerful central electronics for command and control of the whole SAR instrument including pulse generation and echo reception, down-conversion, compression and formatting.

Sentinel-1 spacecraft has just successfully completed its full space qualification program and has now been shipped to the Guyana Space Centre for a Soyuz launch. The paper will present the final results of Sentinel-1 on ground qualification and test programme and the early results of in orbit commissioning.

Abstract document

IAC-14,B1,1,1,x26214.brief.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-14,B1,1,1,x26214.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.