Riding Soyuz

As with Sentinel-1A, Sentinel-1B will be taken into orbit on a Soyuz rocket from Europe’s Spaceport near Kourou in French Guiana. Although both Sentinel-1 satellites use the same type of Soyuz rocket, the Sentinel-1B launch is different because other satellite missions are piggybacking a ride into space: three CubeSats, developed by university students through ESA’s Fly Your Satellite! educational programme, and the CNES Microscope satellite.