Development of Next-Generation Radar Satellites for Earth Observation

Thales Alenia Space has entered into a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) to lead the development of the Sentinel-1 Next Generation (Sentinel-1 NG) satellite mission. This initiative forms a critical component of Copernicus, the Earth observation segment of the European Union Space Program, co-funded by the European Union and ESA.

Industrial Challenge and Collaborative Roles
The primary operational challenge is ensuring data continuity for environmental protection, climate monitoring, and emergency management while significantly improving spatial resolution and coverage. Meeting these strict performance metrics requires the integration of complex aerospace subsystems and complementary technical expertise.

Thales Alenia Space serves as the industrial prime contractor for the space segment. Airbus Defence and Space acts as the main industrial partner, leveraging its specialized engineering capabilities to design and manufacture the primary payload.

Technical Solution and Architecture
The Sentinel-1 NG mission relies on a three-axis stabilized design built upon the multi-mission platform (MILA) architecture developed by Thales Alenia Space.

This standard platform incorporates specific technical contributions from various regional business units and partners:

The C-band SAR instrument utilizes a large active phased-array planar antenna measuring 13.6 meters by 0.94 meters. New modular electronic units enable a multichannel acquisition technique, which increases image resolution up to four times compared to first-generation satellites while expanding the total observable area. The architecture also integrates an Automatic Identification System (AIS) payload to monitor maritime vessels.

Deployment and Environmental Standards
The satellites are designed to integrate seamlessly into the existing Copernicus digital infrastructure, providing continuous day-and-night observation independent of weather conditions. To comply with modern space debris mitigation requirements, the MILA platform features an operational subsystem dedicated to executing a controlled atmospheric re-entry at the end of the satellite life cycle.

Applications and Operational Benefits
The mission delivers highly resolved data for the Copernicus Climate Change, Land, Marine Monitoring, and Emergency Management services. Key technical use cases include evaluating soil moisture, mapping vegetation cover, distinguishing forest types, and tracking crop conditions. In maritime environments, the dual SAR and AIS payloads improve traffic management, safety, and vessel monitoring in sensitive areas. Process stability in land monitoring is further achieved via a quad-polarization operating mode and a specialized polar mode optimized for sea ice observation.

Edited by Evgeny Churilov, Induportals Media - Adapted by AI.

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