Post by Novi Dewan (B.Engr, MBA)

🚀ESA’s Copernicus Sentinel-1D is in orbit! What an unforgettable moment! Yesterday, I had the privilege of attending the launch event at ESA’s Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, where we watched Ariane 6 soar from Kourou, French Guiana, precisely at 06:02 local / 10:02 CET. Just 34 minutes later, Sentinel-1D reached its 693 km sun-synchronous orbit - and at 23:22 CET, its first signal was received from ESA’s Troll ground station in Antarctica. A flawless, precisely executed mission - and a powerful demonstration of Europe’s autonomous access to space. 🌍✨ Equipped with a C-band synthetic aperture radar, Sentinel-1D will continuously observe land, sea, and ice - through clouds, in daylight or darkness - monitoring ground motion, earthquakes, and icebergs, supporting climate resilience, maritime safety, humanitarian aid, and crisis response. With Sentinel-1D, the Copernicus programme - the world’s largest Earth-observation system, built on a full, free, and open data policy - grows even stronger. And continues to serve our planet and people everywhere. A truly European success story - led by ESA, the European Commission, Arianespace, Thales Alenia Space, Airbus Defence and Space, and 70 other companies across the continent. Heartiest congratulations to Josef Aschbacher, Christoph Kautz, Simonetta Cheli, Giampiero Di Paolo, Wolfgang Seefelder, Guy Pilchen, Pierre Godart, Rolf Densing, Thomas Ormston and the countless unnamed experts and teams who made this possible - for all of humanity 🌍 Deep thanks to Torsten Kriening, Holger Krag, Bernard von Weyhe and Pierre for the opportunity to witness this milestone firsthand. 🎥 Attached: Launch Video #ESA #Copernicus #Sentinel1D #Ariane6 #EarthObservation #Airbus #SpaceForEurope #AutonomousAccessToSpace #FreeAndOpenData #ClimateAction #Innovation #HumanitarianResponse #SpaceWatchGlobal

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