Airbus Defence and Space successfully launched the first optical Earth observation satellite in the European Copernicus programme last week. A Vega launcher lifted off from the spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, piggybacking a satellite. The satellite was developed and built under the industrial leadership of Airbus Defence and Space for the European Space Agency (ESA).

Extension of the solar panel needed to supply energy happened after just over one hour. This led Sentinel-2A to successfully report in for duty.

The aim behind designing the 1.1 tonne satellite is to operate for at least seven years and three months in a polar orbit around 780 kilometers above the Earth.

"The outstanding performance capabilities of Sentinel-2's multispectral instrument along with its rapid data transmission ability will soon be available, marking a major step forward in satellite-based Earth and environmental observation", said Francois Auque, Head of Space Systems at Airbus Defence and Space.

Sentinel 2 mission will provide information for the agricultural sector to contribute to the management of food security, said Airbus Defence and Space. The mission will also focus on information for the agricultural sector. The mission will help in mapping changes in the land surfaces and monitoring forests worldwide.

The production of disaster maps will be enabled by images of floods, volcanic eruptions and landslides. Sentinel-2 is also capable of using another ESA programme, the European Data Relay System (EDRS), a network of laser communication payloads on geostationary satellites and low Earth orbit satellites.