SENTINEL 2B

About This Satellite

Sentinel-2B launched on March 7, 2017 UTC, aboard Vega from French Guiana. It added a second optical land-imaging spacecraft to the original Sentinel-2A mission. The value of the pair was more frequent sampling of changing landscapes, rather than simply doubling the number of pixels in one image.

Five days describes the original paired sampling design

The original A/B constellation was arranged on opposite sides of the orbit to shorten the land-imaging revisit interval to five days. That is a constellation figure, not the time Sentinel-2B takes to complete one revolution. It also does not promise a cloud-free view at every opportunity.

Revisit is an opportunity, not a guaranteed observation

For agriculture or flood mapping, useful scenes depend on illumination, cloud cover, and the delivered product. Check the actual acquisition rather than deriving an image date from the marker below. The original A/B deployment history is not a live inventory of every Sentinel-2 spacecraft now in service.

Mission reference: ESA: Sentinel-2B launch. Editorial review: 2026-09-12.

Why the twin mattered for changing land

Sentinel-2B carries the mission's 13-band multispectral imager. The launch documentation highlights vegetation, forestry, inland waters, and disaster mapping. More frequent suitable images can help distinguish a developing event from a long gap between observations, although clouds can still hide the surface during optical acquisitions.

Reference: ESA: Sentinel-2B payload and applications.

Coverage width and orbital spacing work together

ESA's original deployment description combines a 290 km swath with the two spacecraft's orbital spacing. The swath is the width observed across the track, not the width of the line drawn on this catalog map. The line locates the point beneath the spacecraft; an image footprint covers an area around the acquisition path.

Reference: ESA: original Sentinel-2 A/B coverage design.

Reading this orbital snapshot

Based on TLE epoch: 2026-09-05. Estimated altitude ranges from 788 km at perigee to 790 km at apogee, a difference of 2 km. The orbital period is about 100.6 minutes. Eccentricity 0.00012 indicates a nearly circular path. In a two-body approximation, perigee speed is 1.00 times apogee speed. These are mean-element estimates, not instantaneous measurements. Distance per orbit uses an ellipse approximation.

Saved build snapshot. If a valid TLE is retrieved, this explanation and the orbit panel update together. Otherwise this dated snapshot is retained.

Ground track is not sensor coverage

An inclination of 98.56 degrees implies approximate geocentric ground-track limits of 81.4 degrees north and south. This is a retrograde orbit, moving against the direction of Earth rotation. The plotted line marks the point beneath the object. It does not represent camera coverage, radio reception, or a guaranteed visible pass.

Accuracy and missing information

The introductory record describes the build snapshot. The orbital snapshot explanation and orbit panel share any successfully retrieved TLE; check the displayed epoch. Reentered objects retain historical data only. Mission history is not rewritten by TLE updates. TLE/SGP4 positions are predictions and can change after maneuvers or updated observations. The 14-day stale-data cutoff is a display safeguard, not an accuracy guarantee. Local passes are geometric predictions, not a visibility forecast. No verified operator or mission status means unknown, not active. Do not use this catalog for collision avoidance or operational flight decisions.

Catalog sources: CelesTrak SATCAT: NORAD 42063 · GCAT: S42063 (source update 2026 Sep 4 2345:57). Supplementary metadata: SatNOGS DB, retrieved 2026-09-05T12:57:25.375Z. Page assembled 2026-09-15. GCAT phase codes describe trajectory phases, not mission health.

Learn more: TLE data · Perigee and apogee · Ground tracks · JOT (Jewawud Live Orbital Map)

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