10 June 2026 – Thales Alenia Space announces the signing of a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) for the development of the two Sentinel-1 Next Generation satellites. The contract signed today represents the first tranche of a contract worth a total of 700 million euros. Sentinel-1NG is part of Copernicus, the Earth Observation component of the European Union’s Space Program, which is managed by the European Commission and co-funded by the EU and the European Space Agency. ESA is responsible for the development and launches of dedicated Sentinel satellites, also operating most of the missions and ensuring the availability of data. The Italian Space Agency (ASI) also supports this mission. Sentinel-1 Next Generation will be led under Thales Alenia Space’s industrial prime contractorship, with Airbus Defence and Space as main industrial partner being responsible for the C Band SAR instrument. Read more