Sentinel-2A is a European optical imaging satellite launched in 2015. It is the first Sentinel-2 satellite launched by the European Space Agency's and this Sentinel is part of the European Commission's Copernicus Programme. The satellite carries a wide swath high-resolution multispectral imager with 13 spectral bands. Its observations support services such as forest monitoring, land cover change-detection, natural disaster management and water quality monitoring. On 7 March 2017 the Sentinel-2A was joined in orbit by its sister satellite, Sentinel-2B.