Copernicus will provide accurate, up-to-date and globally-available information on an operational basis for services and applications related to land, sea/ocean and atmospheric monitoring as well as to emergency response and security in support of European policies. On behalf of the European Union, the European Commission manages the overall programme and coordinates the Copernicus service component whereas the European Space Agency manages the Copernicus space component, and the European Environment Agency coordinates the Copernicus in-situ component.

The Copernicus space component comprises, in addition to a range of contributing missions, new missions called the Sentinels which are under development since 2007. The new Sentinel missions will feature radar and super-spectral imaging as well as ocean and atmospheric monitoring capacities.

The Sentinel missions are primarily designed to provide routine observations for operational services. However the Sentinel missions are also very attractive for performing state of the art scientific research and developing innovative applications. Furthermore, the uptake of the data by the science communities is essential for improving existing services and/or developing new services, and thus supporting the evolution of the overall system.

The first Sentinel 1A imaging radar mission was launched successfully in April 2014 and following a successful in orbit commissioning the data are available to the science community since beginning of October 2014.

The first Sentinel 2A land monitoring optical mission was launched successfully in June 2015. Sentinel 2A has completed its in orbit commissioning on 15 October 2015 and data have been opened to the science community via the science hub on 2nd December 2015.
The first Sentinel 3A to deliver operational ocean and land observation is due to launch in early 2016 and in orbit commissioning is planned for a duration of 5 months. Sentinel 3A will be jointly operated by ESA and EUMETSAT.

The session is intended to outline the status of the Copernicus system and to introduce scientific exploitation activities that complement operational Copernicus services.