Sentinel-1A launches and Copernicus data becomes free and open
The first Copernicus Sentinel satellite reached orbit carrying a C-band synthetic aperture radar able to image through cloud and darkness, and its data was released under a free, full and open policy from the outset. Where Landsat had become free after decades of charging, Copernicus was designed to be free, and at a data volume large enough that the practical problem shifted from acquiring imagery to processing it — which is where the commercial layer of European Earth observation then formed.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Copernicus · international programme · European Union · not located
- Earth observation · industry sector · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
Copernicus programme establishment and data and information policy
Establishes that Copernicus Sentinel data is made available free, fully and openly, including for commercial reuse. V55 verification basis: the regulations were not retrieved in this session and their numbers are deliberately omitted rather than cited from memory; the policy substance is stated from author knowledge.
European Union · Partly verified
EU regulation establishing the Copernicus programme, and the Copernicus data and information policy on free, full and open access
Recorded on Copernicus
- ERTS-1, later Landsat 1, begins the civil land-imaging record
- The United States opens the Landsat archive at no charge
- Sentinel-1A launches and Copernicus data becomes free and open
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.