Sentinel-1
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.
Turn it in 3D
Open the 3D viewer (www.spaceradar.ai).
The viewer loads when you ask: about 700 kB the first time (three.js and the model), much less after.
Pictures 4
Three-quarter view
From the side
From behind
From above
About this model
Sentinel-1 is one of the 203 3D models Space Radar made itself: a satellite, built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh.
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified. It has 5,804 triangles in a 43 kB glTF file, and is 21 m across at full scale.
On Space Radar’s live map it is drawn for the object with NORAD catalogue number 39634, where its published orbit puts it now. Open it on the map.
Dimensions and their sources
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Bus long | 3.4 m |
| Bus wide | 1.3 m |
| Bus deep | 1.3 m |
| Antenna long | 12.3 m |
| Antenna wide | 0.821 m |
| Wing long | 10 m |
| Span | 21 m |
eoPortal, eoportal.org/satellite-missions/copernicus-sentinel-1, OPENED 2026-10-14: 'Spacecraft body dimensions 3.4 m x 1.3 m x 1.3 m'; 'Spacecraft envelope dimensions 3.9 m x 2.6 m x 2.5 m'; 'Spacecraft structure Box of aluminum sandwich panels + CFRP central structure'; '4800 W average (End-of-Life), GaAs triple junction solar cells, 2 solar array wings, each wing of 5 sandwich panels'; of the antenna, 'Slotted waveguide radiators', '12.3 m x 0.821 m'; 'The SAS consists of 14 identical tiles (12.3 m x 0.84 m) in 5 deployable panels'; 'The C-SAR antenna comprises two wings, stowed on the platform's lateral panels during launch, which are deployed once in orbit. Each antenna wing consists of two antenna panels.'; 'The SAS central panel comprises two antenna tiles, whereas the wing panels comprise three antenna tiles each.'; 'carefully unfolding the two 10 m-long solar wings and the 12 m-long radar antenna'; '+X S/C axis points towards the flight direction. S/C Y axis is aligned with the Sun direction.'; 'The first step in the sequence was the SAR +X wing release'; 'The +Y Solar Array deployment was telecommanded at the next contact'; 'Right side looking geometry'; 'Figure 75 illustrates that for the minimum orbital height (693 km) the mechanical SAR antenna off-nadir angle is more shallow (30.25º) than it is for the maximum orbital height (726 km). In the latter case, the mechanical SAR antenna off-nadir angle is 28.65º.'; 'The Sentinel-1 satellites fly in a near polar, sun-synchronized (dawn-dusk) orbit at 693 km altitude.'; 'LTAN (Local Time on Ascending Node) = 18:00 hours'; 'the spacecraft embarks the LCT (Laser Communication Terminal) unit'; 'August 3, 2022: The European Space Agency and the European Commission announce the end of the mission for the Copernicus Sentinel-1B satellite'; 'The satellite was replaced by Sentinel-1C, which launched in December 2024. Sentinel-1D, launched in November 2025'. ESA, 'Facts and figures', esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sentinel-1/F…, OPENED 2026-10-14 (words and numbers only): 'Satellite: 21 m long, 2.5 m wide, 4 m high with 2×10 m-long solar arrays and a 12 m-long radar antenna'; 'Launch: Sentinel-1A on 3 April 2014 (ended in June 2026) Sentinel-1B on 25 April 2016 (ended in August 2022) Sentinel-1C on 5 December 2024 Sentinel-1D on 4 November 2025'. DERIVED: tiles of 0.879 m; each wing a 1.4 m yoke and five panels of 1.72 m, 10 m from the bus's flank, 21.3 m tip to tip. READ OFF DLR'S PHOTOGRAPHS of a model: the gold bus; a white brace over silver skins on each flank; the antenna pale on its Earth side with a gold edge; a wing's white back and triangular yoke; a gold dome and four antenna cups at one end. THE ROLL IS DRAWN: the whole craft is turned 29.45 degrees about its length (the middle of the two cited angles), the antenna's face down and AWAY from the Sun, the cells up and toward it. That the look to the right is the look away from the Sun follows from the cited orbit (ascending at 18:00, so the Sun is on the left of a craft flying north); no page says it in a sentence. OURS: the wings' 2.5 m width (ESA's '2.5 m wide' read as theirs); the wings in one plane with the bus's sky face; the laser terminal, star trackers and rod antennas, in size and place. (read 2026-10-14)
How it was made
Built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh. 3D model: built by Space Radar from published dimensions and DLR's photographs of a model of Sentinel-1 (DLR German Aerospace Center, CC BY 2.0).
The full record
built by this project in code (the private tool model-from-images: assemble.py, from a yaml of primitives), from the cited dimensions and the pictures under `references`; no image-to-3D model was used, and no published mesh (NASA's 3D Resources on GitHub, 1 583 paths read 2026-10-13, has none of this craft; the survey of 2026-10-13 found no agency model of it under usable terms; ESA's own pictures and models were NOT used: ESA's terms forbid derivative works)
Where the map uses it. NORAD 39634 (SENTINEL-1A), 62261 (SENTINEL-1C) and 66315 (SENTINEL-1D), the three in the live saved data of 2026-10-12, and 41456 (SENTINEL-1B), whose mission ended in August 2022 and which is in no group the app loads (dormant): the Copernicus C-band radar satellites. They were, and while this file is on its way still are, the shared radar blade (scene/models.js `radar`), which was drawn after this very craft's antenna: a 12.3 m blade, a bus of 3.9 by 2.2 by 2.2 m and two wings of 4.6 m. The file has the craft's own bus (3.4 by 1.3 by 1.3 m) and its own wings (10 m each, 21 m tip to tip: longer than the antenna); public #948
Licence note. CC BY 2.0 (DLR's photographs of a scale model, which the layout was read off: looked at, with credit; nothing of the pictures is in the file); the shape is this project's, under this repository's licence, built from published numbers (facts). NO ESA PICTURE WAS USED. NO LOGO AND NO LETTERING is on the mesh.
References 3
What the shape was compared with. None of these pictures is in the file.
- Sentinel-1 model (7628591172)DLR German Aerospace CenterCC BY 2.0 (DLR German Aerospace Center, flickr; the Commons API's LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-14)
- Sentinel-1 scale model (7628218618) (2)DLR German Aerospace CenterCC BY 2.0 (DLR German Aerospace Center, flickr; the Commons API's LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-14)
- Sentinel 1-IMG 5874-whiteRama (Wikimedia Commons)CC BY-SA 2.0 fr (Rama, own work; read 2026-10-14): share-alike, LOOKED AT ONLY, never fetched by the tool and not on any sheet
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Use it
The model is under the MIT licence: use it, change it and share it, in any project, also a paid one. Keep the credit:
Sentinel-1 3D model by Space Radar (spaceradar.ai), MIT LicenseAny glTF 2.0 loader that reads meshopt compression (EXT_meshopt_compression) opens the file: three.js with its MeshoptDecoder, Babylon.js, model-viewer. Tools such as glTF-Transform can write an uncompressed copy.
Or embed the viewer in your page:
<iframe src="https://www.spaceradar.ai/model/?id=sentinel-1" title="Sentinel-1, 3D model by Space Radar" width="600" height="450" loading="lazy" style="border:0;max-width:100%"></iframe>Related models
