--- title: See Sentinel-1B's First and Record Setting Image description: Europe's latest space satellite delivered a radar image less than two hours after being activated. canonical: https://time.com/4311734/sentinel-1b-european-space-agency-radar-first-image/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-28T20:57:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:00:54.165Z article:section: Science og:title: See a New Space Radar's Beautiful First Image og:description: It delivered an image only two hours after the radar was activated og:url: https://time.com/4311734/sentinel-1b-european-space-agency-radar-first-image/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4cb0244ec0f9c142/698891198e060121ba465a49/sentinel-1b-first-image-svalbard-archipelago.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2009 og:image:height: 1130 og:image:alt: Sentinel-1B-first-image-svalbard-archipelago og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See a New Space Radar's Beautiful First Image twitter:description: It delivered an image only two hours after the radar was activated twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4cb0244ec0f9c142/698891198e060121ba465a49/sentinel-1b-first-image-svalbard-archipelago.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See a New Space Radar's Beautiful First Image > Sponsored content. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Apr 28, 2016 8:57 PM UTC  Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, with the Austfonna glacier clearly visible, April 28, 2016. Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, with the Austfonna glacier clearly visible, April 28, 2016. Copernicus Sentinel/ESA by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Apr 28, 2016 8:57 PM UTC The latest European space radar [produced its first image](http://m.esa.int/Our%5FActivities/Observing%5Fthe%5FEarth/Copernicus/Sentinel-1/Sentinel-1B%5Fdelivers) Thursday, after only being online for two hours. Sentinel-1B launched April 25 and produced the image after deploying its 12 meter-long radar (about 39 feet)—a record time for a space radar, according to the European Space Agency. The first image is of the Norwegian archipelago Svalbard, with the Austfonna glacier visible. The ESA, an intergovernmental body dedicated to European space exploration, operates the Copernicus program, which Sentinel-1B is a part of. Copernicus is the largest single earth observation mission, according to the ESA, and is comprised of multiple satellites that monitor the Earth below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4311734/sentinel-1b-european-space-agency-radar-first-image/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4311734/sentinel-1b-european-space-agency-radar-first-image/"},"headline":"See a New Space Radar's Beautiful First Image","datePublished":"2016-04-28T20:57:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:00:54.165Z","description":"It delivered an image only two hours after the radar was activated","url":"https://time.com/4311734/sentinel-1b-european-space-agency-radar-first-image/","keywords":["Space","Science topic","photography","LightBox"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4cb0244ec0f9c142/698891198e060121ba465a49/sentinel-1b-first-image-svalbard-archipelago.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4cb0244ec0f9c142/698891198e060121ba465a49/sentinel-1b-first-image-svalbard-archipelago.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Sentinel-1B-first-image-svalbard-archipelago","caption":"Sentinel-1B-first-image-svalbard-archipelago","creditText":"Copernicus Sentinel/ESA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4311734/sentinel-1b-european-space-agency-radar-first-image/","name":"See a New Space Radar's Beautiful First Image"}}]}] ```