{"id":42833,"date":"2026-07-02T07:10:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T07:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/42833\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T07:10:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T07:10:07","slug":"farewell-to-sentinel-1a-with-a-last-look-at-melbourne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/42833\/","title":{"rendered":"Farewell to Sentinel-1A, with a last look at Melbourne"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"335\" width=\"598\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Sentinel-1_radar_vision_625.jpg\" alt=\"An artist\u2019s impression of the Sentinel-1A synthetic aperture radar satellite in orbit with the Earth below\" class=\"wp-image-46862\"  \/>An artist\u2019s impression of the Sentinel-1A synthetic aperture radar satellite. Credit: ESA\/ATG medialab<\/p>\n<p>Europe\u2019s Sentinel-1A synthetic aperture radar satellite has collected its final data.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A little over 12 years after it was launched, the Sentinel-1A mission officially came to an end on 29 June.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the venerable spacecraft\u2019s last tasks was to make a strip-mode image of Melbourne (see below).<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Originally designed with a seven-year lifetime, the satellite exceeded all expectations\u2026 a testament to the people who built and operated it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And that longevity came in very handy when its sibling spacecraft, Sentinel-1B, suffered a major failure in 2021, forcing Sentinel-1A to step into the breach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spatialsource.com.au\/sentinel-1c-radarsat-put-through-pre-flight-tests\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">-1C<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spatialsource.com.au\/sentinel-1d-satellite-declared-fully-operational\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">-1D<\/a> spacecraft in orbit and working away, the time has come to say goodbye to -1A.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs we bid farewell to this remarkable satellite, we celebrate an <a href=\"https:\/\/sentinels.copernicus.eu\/web\/success-stories\/-\/sentinel-1a-a-prime-from-first-light-to-last\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">extraordinary legacy<\/a> and look forward with confidence as Sentinel-1C and Sentinel-1D carry that legacy into the years ahead,\u201d said Simonetta Cheli.<\/p>\n<p>Sentinel-1A\u2019s extraordinary legacy<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSentinel-1A holds a special place for all of us,\u201d said ESA\u2019s Sentinel-1 Mission Manager, Nuno Miranda.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs the first satellite of the Copernicus program, it paved the way for new approaches in both operations and science. Over the years, it has weathered several disruptions and challenges,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAfter years of outstanding service, Sentinel-1A has earned a well-deserved retirement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe team is now preparing for the disposal phase, which is expected to begin during the [northern] summer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--pointerdown=\"actions.preloadImage\" data-wp-on--pointerenter=\"actions.preloadImageWithDelay\" data-wp-on--pointerleave=\"actions.cancelPreload\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" height=\"335\" width=\"335\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Sentinel-1A_s_last_view_of_Melbourne_1500.jpg\" alt=\"A Sentinel-1A satellite image of Melbourne\" class=\"wp-image-46864\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t(Click to enlarge) One of the last from Sentinel-1A shows Melbourne on 29 June 2026. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2026), processed by ESA.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carrying their C-band synthetic aperture radars, the Sentinel-1D and Sentinel-1C satellites are fully operational in Earth orbit, spaced 180\u00b0 apart.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And as Spatial Source <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spatialsource.com.au\/contract-signed-for-new-sentinel-1-ng-satellites\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">reported<\/a> last month, contracts have been signed for work to begin on the next generation of Sentinel-1 spacecraft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An artist\u2019s impression of the Sentinel-1A synthetic aperture radar satellite. Credit: ESA\/ATG medialab Europe\u2019s Sentinel-1A synthetic aperture radar&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[260,20487,5407,33458,33459,33460,33461],"class_list":["post-42833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-melbourne","tag-sar","tag-satellite","tag-sentinel-1a","tag-sentinel-1c","tag-sentinel-1d","tag-synthetic-aperture-radar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}