ESA is developing a new family of satellites, called Sentinels, specifically for the operational needs of the Copernicus programme. <br /> <br />Copernicus is headed by the European Commission in partnership with the European Space Agency. It provides a unified system through which vast amounts of data are fed into a range of thematic information services designed to benefit the environment, the way we live, humanitarian needs and to support effective policy-making for a more sustainable future. These services fall into six main categories: land management, the marine environment, atmosphere, emergency response, security and climate change. <br /> <br />The Sentinels will provide a unique set of observations, which started with the all-weather, day and night radar images from Sentinel-1A, launched in April 2014. Sentinel-2A will mainly deliver high-resolution optical images.
