The Sentinel-1 satellite is part of the GMES program - Global Monitoring for Environment and Security - a set of Earth observation missions co-funded by ESA and the European Commission. GMES represents the European answer to the ever-increasing requirements of environmental control, and thus provides an important contribution to environmental policies at a global level.

As prime contractor, Thales Alenia Space Italy is responsible for the design, development, and integration of the satellite that will carry a C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). The radar will be based on Thales Alenia Space's key technologies such as the Transmit-Receive modules inside the active antenna.

Based on a Prima platform, developed by Thales Alenia Space for the Italian Space Agency, Sentinel-1 will weigh 2,280 kilograms at launch and will look at the Earth in swaths up to 700 kilometers with a ground resolution of between 5 and 25 meters according to the selected operative mode.

The "Micro-Satellite à traînée Compensée pour l'Observation du Principe d'Equivalence" (MICROSCOPE) is a 300-kilogram (660 lb) class minisatellite operated by CNES to test the universality of free fall (the equivalence principle) with precision to the order of 10−15, 100 times more precise than can be achieved on Earth. It was launched on 25 April 2016 alongside Sentinel-1B and other small satellites and was decommissioned around 18 October 2018 after the completion of its science objectives.

AAUSAT-4 is the fourth CubeSat built and operated by students from Aalborg University in Denmark. AAUSAT4 carries two AIS receivers as the main payload.

OUFTI-1, an acronym for Orbital Utility For Telecommunication Innovation, is a Belgian artificial satellite of the CubeSat type developed by students from Liège. It must serve in particular as a D-STAR telecommunication relay for radio amateurs. The satellite was launched from the Guiana Space Center on April 25, 2016. This CubeSats is launched as part of the program "Fly your satellite!" of the European Space Agency.

The onboard beacon transmits in Morse in CW / VHF (145.980 MHz) starting with the characters 'HI HI DE OUFTI1' followed by codes providing telemetry on its operation.

e-st@r-II (Educational Satellite @ Polytechnic University of Turin 2) is a miniaturized satellite designed and built by Polytechnic University of Turin, as part of the "Fly Your Satellite" program of the European Space Agency.