Copernicus Agreement

On 28 October, the European Commission and ESA signed an Agreement of over €3 billion to manage and implement the Copernicus ‘space component’ between 2014 and 2021. The signature also marks the transfer of ownership of Sentinel-1A to the EU, just weeks after the satellite became operational following intense data quality testing and calibration during its commissioning phase. From left to right: Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director General of the EC’s Directorate General Enterprise and Industry and Simon Jutz, Head of ESA's Copernicus Space Office.