Saturday, March 9, 2024
The Airbus-constructed EarthCARE (Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation Explorer) satellite has departed from Munich, Germany, en route to its launch site in Vandenberg, California, on board an aircraft. Scheduled for a May launch on a Falcon 9 rocket, EarthCARE is embarking on a mission to enhance our understanding of climate change.
As the European Space Agency’s (ESA) most advanced Earth Explorer mission under its FutureEO program, EarthCARE aims to precisely assess and mitigate the uncertainties surrounding the climatic effects of clouds and aerosols. This endeavor has seen collaboration from experts across 15 European nations, alongside contributions from Japan and Canada, in its development, construction, and testing phases.
Marc Steckling, Head of Earth Observation, Science and Exploration at Airbus said: “As the world’s climate continues to change at a faster and faster rate, scientists need ever more sophisticated space assets to enable better analysis. EarthCARE will help fill in the gaps by providing unprecedented measurements so that meteorologists and climatologists can better understand how energy is transmitted within the atmosphere.”
A collaborative effort between ESA and the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA), EarthCARE will investigate how clouds and aerosols reflect solar radiation and trap infrared radiation from Earth’s surface. It will generate vertical profiles of aerosols, track the movement of water droplets and ice crystals within clouds, and contribute valuable insights to climate modeling and weather prediction. Understanding aerosols’ interaction with clouds is key to deciphering Earth’s energy balance.
Supported by over 200 research institutes globally, EarthCARE’s data will refine models of cloud formation, behavior, and interaction with aerosols, improving the accuracy of climate predictions.
Featuring four instruments, including the Atmospheric Lidar (ATLID), EarthCARE is set to deliver unprecedented insights into aerosol and cloud profiles. ATLID, marking Airbus’s expertise in spaceborne ultraviolet lidars, follows the Aeolus spacecraft in advancing atmospheric analysis. Together with a Broad-Band Radiometer, a Multi-Spectral Imager, and a Cloud Profiling Radar, this satellite represents a groundbreaking step in directly measuring the impact of clouds and aerosols on Earth’s radiation budget.
Manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space in Friedrichshafen, Germany, with the ATLID supplied by the Toulouse branch in France, the 2-ton satellite will orbit Earth in a Sun-synchronous 400 km polar orbit. This orbit is designed to maximize daylight observation conditions, allowing comprehensive study of the atmosphere’s dynamics.
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Sunday, April 28, 2024
