The European Space Agency has tapped Thales Alenia Space to lead development of two next-generation radar Earth-observation satellites for Europe’s Copernicus environmental monitoring program, awarding a contract valued at €700 million (about $756 million).
The deal was announced at the ILA Berlin Air Show, where ESA formally named Thales Alenia Space (TAS) prime contractor for “Sentinel-1 Next Generation,” the follow-on to the current Sentinel-1 radar mission that has been operating for more than 12 years.
Thales Alenia Space—owned 67% by France’s Thales and 33% by Italy’s Leonardo—will run the program from Italy. Airbus Defence and Space is joining as the main industrial partner.
$756 million total contract covers first two Sentinel-1 Next Generation satellites
The agreement signed in Berlin is the first tranche of a broader package whose total value is €700 million (about $756 million). This initial phase covers two identical Sentinel-1 Next Generation radar satellites designed to extend and expand the capabilities of the current Sentinel-1 mission.
“Sentinel-1 Next Generation will offer radar imaging capabilities superior to those of the first generation, thus expanding coverage both in Europe and worldwide, while reducing the intervals between successive radar images,” said Giampiero Di Paolo, senior vice president for Observation, Exploration and Navigation at TAS.
That shorter “revisit time” is a key operational metric for Copernicus services, shaping how quickly the system can support crisis management, monitor agricultural areas, and track natural disasters.
Thales Alenia Space has worked on 11 of Copernicus’ 12 missions
The Sentinel-1 Next Generation win builds on a long role inside Copernicus, a European environmental monitoring program co-funded by the European Union and ESA. Thales Alenia Space, headquartered in Cannes in southern France, contributes to 11 of the program’s 12 missions.
Founded in 2001, the company is chaired by Massimo Claudio Comparini as president of its supervisory board, and it has established a central industrial position across Copernicus satellite families.
One example is Sentinel-3. The Sentinel-3A and Sentinel-3B satellites, launched in 2016 and 2018, are nearing end of life. Their successors—Sentinel-3C and Sentinel-3D—are being prepared at the Cannes site. Sentinel-3C is scheduled to launch in 2026 from Kourou in French Guiana, with Sentinel-3D set to follow two years later.
The four instruments on board cover ocean color, surface temperatures, and the topography of ocean and ice surfaces.
At the same site, TAS is finalizing the CHIME satellite, with flight models planned for manufacturing in 2026 ahead of a 2029 launch. TAS is also working on the MTG Imager-II, designed to deliver full-disk Earth images every two minutes and 30 seconds to help anticipate the formation of thunderstorm cells.
Sentinel-1 has been Europe’s radar imaging backbone for more than 12 years
The current Sentinel-1 program has been operating for more than 12 years and is described as the backbone of Europe’s radar imaging—used for monitoring sea ice, ground movement, disasters, and agriculture. The next generation is intended to ensure continuity while expanding geographic coverage and cutting the time between repeat observations of the same area.
The Berlin announcement also highlighted the program’s Franco-Italian industrial footprint. Program leadership is based in Italy at TAS, while French capabilities within the group are anchored in Cannes, which the article describes as a European reference site for environmental space observation.
TAS says the Cannes facility includes an 8-meter-tall by 8-meter-deep (about 26 feet by 26 feet) vacuum chamber used to simulate the space environment—one of the few in Europe at that scale.
More Copernicus work and a busy 2026 launch calendar
The Sentinel-1 Next Generation contract adds to other projects already underway. TAS has signed an addendum worth €169 million (about $183 million) for a future Copernicus monitoring mission, and it is also developing the Start constellation—orbital servicing vehicles intended to capture debris and extend the life of existing satellites.
Separately, the FLEX satellite, assembled in Cannes, is scheduled to lift off from Kourou in September 2026 aboard a Vega-C rocket for a three-and-a-half-year mission focused on vegetation fluorescence, an indicator of crop health at a global scale.
According to the article, the workload at the Cannes site in 2026 is the heaviest in several years, with multiple satellites in testing at the same time and launches planned between June and September—alongside the new Sentinel-1 generation to be managed from Turin.
