Originally published on April 7, 2014

The first in EU's series of earth-monitoring satellites launched aboard a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana on Thursday evening, the European Space Agency said. Sentinel-1A is launched to a height of 700 km above earth where it orbit around earth via the two poles.

"There is no Earth observation project as big as this," Prof Anne Glover, the European Union's chief scientific adviser said in a BBC report. "It will give European scientists and European citizens the ability to understand precisely what is happening on our planet - from the poles, to the oceans, to the land."
The Sentinel-1A's cloud-penetrating radar allows it to observe flooding and fires under all weathers. Its radar imaging also monitors earth's movements to pinpoint quake centers at the fault line. The satellite will also transfer data as it passes over Europe's rapid data-relay system stations on earth.

Five other Sentinel missions, expected to be launched by 2019, will monitor oceans, land-change, and the atmospheric composition.