（法新社巴黎3日電） 歐洲今天展開高科技衛星的首波發射作業，這套衛星系統是設計來監控地球氣候變遷及環境破壞的情況，並協助災難救濟作業。
聯合號火箭（Soyuz）運載Sentinel-1A衛星，在台灣時間清晨5時2分，自法屬圭亞那的庫魯（Kourou）發射升空，衛星上裝有可以穿透雲層的雷達，以便觀測地球。
歐洲太空總署（ESA）與歐洲聯盟（EU）規模37億8600萬美元（51億9000萬美元）的哥白尼計畫（Copernicus），將部署6個軌道監測器，其中2.2噸重的Sentinel-1A是最先送上外太空的衛星。
Sentinel-1B衛星預計於明年底發射升空，與Sentinel-1A分頭合作，從700公里的高度拍攝雷達影像，可在6天內將全球拍透透。（譯者：中央社林亭儀）
https://tw.news.yahoo.com/愛地球-歐洲首枚環保衛星升空-052005646.html
Sentinel-1 News
Europe lofts first Copernicus environmental satellite
03 April 2014
The ability of European citizens, policymakers and service providers to access key environmental data on a routine basis will take a major step forward following the launch today of ESA’s Sentinel-1A satellite.
The 2.3 tonne satellite lifted off on a Soyuz rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana at 21:02 GMT (23:02 CEST). The first stage separated 118 sec later, followed by the fairing (209 sec), stage 2 (287 sec) and the upper assembly (526 sec).
After a 617 sec burn, the Fregat upper stage delivered Sentinel into a Sun-synchronous orbit at 693 km altitude. The satellite separated from the upper stage 23 min 24 sec after liftoff.
“Sentinel-1A opens a new page in the implementation of Copernicus, the second EU flagship space initiative, after the Galileo positioning system,” said Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of ESA.
