The Sentinel-1 mission comprises a constellation of two polar-orbiting satellites, operating day and night performing C-band synthetic aperture radar imaging, enabling them to acquire imagery regardless of the weather.

Sentinel-1 will work in a pre-programmed operation mode to avoid conflicts and to produce a consistent long-term data archive built for applications based on long time series.

Sentinel-1 is the first of the five missions that ESA is developing for the Copernicus initiative.

For mission planning information, see the Observation Scenario pages.

The Sentinel-1 Mission Guide provides a high-level description of the mission objectives, satellite description and Ground Segment. It also introduces the related heritage missions, thematic areas, orbit characteristics and coverage, instrument payload and data products.

The Mission Guide categories are:

• Overview
  This section provides a brief description of the heritage missions of C-band SAR satellites, as well as the main thematic areas and services.

• Mission Objectives
  Describes objectives of the Sentinel-1 mission.

• Satellite Description
  Describes the Sentinel-1 satellite platform.

• Ground Segment
  Describes the Flight Operations Segment (FOS), the Payload Data Ground Segment (PDGS), the orbit characteristics and the geographical coverage of the Mission.

• Observation Scenario
  Describes the observation scenario for conflict-free mission planning to satisfy all Sentinel-1 mission requirements.

• Production Scenario
  Describes the Sentinel-1 systematic production scenario.

• Data Distribution Schedule
  Explains the data distribution policy for the Sentinel-1 product types and levels.

• Instrument Payload
  Describes the SAR instrument of the Sentinel-1 mission and the nominal operating modes.

• Data Products
  Outlines the Level-0, Level-1 and Level-2 data products that are available to users.