GSC Sentinel-2 PDGS OCD - Emits - ESA

GSC Sentinel-2 PDGS OCD
Issue 1 Revision 2 (draft) - 25.07.2010
GMES-GSEG-EOPG-TN-09-0008
page 47 of 350
3 SENTINEL-2 MISSION OVERVIEW
3.1 Mission Objectives
Sentinel-2 is an earth polar-orbiting satellite constellation designed to feed the GMES system
with continuous and operational high-resolution imagery for the global and sustained
monitoring of Earth land and coastal areas.
As an enhanced follow-on to high-resolution optical missions such as SPOT and Landsat, the
Sentinel-2 constellation will provide imagery for the sustained generation of higher-level
operational products such as land-cover maps, land-change detection maps, and geophysical
variables (e.g. leaf area index, leaf chlorophyll content or fraction of absorbed photosynthetically
active radiation).
The analysis of mission requirements [AD-01] has led to design the Sentinel-2 system based
on the concurrent operations of two identical satellites flying on a single orbit plane, each
hosting a Multi-Spectral Instrument (MSI) covering from the visible to the shortwave infrared
spectral range and delivering high spatial resolution imagery at global scale and with a high
revisit frequency.
Sentinel-2 mission will ensure optical data supply continuity while introducing enhancements
with respect to the current high-resolution optical systems to satisfy requirements defined in
the Sentinel-2 MRD, current requirements from GMES Core Services and Downstream
services, the projection of these requirements for the GSC operations phase from 2013
onwards and the expected National and scientific requirements.
The Sentinel-2 mission objectives include the operational supply of data, with adequate revisit
frequency, coverage, timeliness and reliability, for services such as:
○ Risk Management (floods and forest fires, subsidence and land slides)
○ European Land Use/Land Cover State and Changes
○ Forest Monitoring
○ Food Security/Early Warning Systems
○ Water Management and Soil Protection
○ Urban Mapping
○ Natural Hazards
○ Terrestrial Mapping for Humanitarian Aid and Development
Mission requirements are expected to evolve with the downstream services currently being
under evaluation and they will be further enhanced by national requirements and
requirements from the scientific community.
Sentinel-2 mission objectives and operational requirements present a new challenge requiring
sufficient space and ground segment resources in terms of:
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