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EarthCARE

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EarthCARE
EarthCARE being prepared for shipment to launch site
Mission typeEarth observation
OperatorESA / JAXA / NICT
COSPAR ID2024-101A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.59908
WebsiteEarthCare on esa.int
Mission duration3 years (planned)
11 months, 24 days
(in progress)
Spacecraft properties
BusAstroBus-L
ManufacturerEADS Astrium
Launch mass2350 kg[1]
Dry mass2037 kg[1]
Dimensions2.5 x 19 m
Power1700 W
Start of mission
Launch date28 May 2024 22:20 UTC[2]
RocketFalcon 9 Block 5[3]
Launch siteVandenberg SLC-4E
ContractorSpaceX
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeSun-synchronous
Altitude393 km
Inclination97,1°
Period92,5 minutes
Repeat interval25 days
EpochPlanned
Transponders
BandS Band (TT&C support)
X band (science data acquisition)
Bandwidth2 Mbit/s download (S Band)
150 Mbit/s download (X Band)
64 kbit/s upload (S Band)
Instruments
ATLID: ATmospheric LIDar
CPR: Cloud Profiling Radar
MSI: Multi-Spectral Imager
BBR: Broad-Band Radiometer

EarthCARE (derived from Earth Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer), nicknamed Hakuryū (Japanese for "white dragon"),[4] is a joint European/Japanese (ESA / JAXA / NICT) satellite, the sixth of ESA's Earth Explorer Programme.[1][5] The main goal of the mission is the observation and characterization of clouds and aerosols as well as measuring the reflected solar radiation and the infrared radiation emitted from Earth's surface and atmosphere.[6][7][8]

Background

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As the prime contractor, Astrium was responsible for the satellite's design, development and integration.[9] Design and construction began in early 2009.[10] As of January 2011, the total budget for the project was £500 million (€590 million/US$810 million).[10] A significant proportion of the project was be manufactured in the UK, the main structure of the spacecraft was built by RUAG Space in Switzerland and subsequently completed in Astrium's Stevenage facility, while one of the instruments was made in Sevenoaks by SSTL and another in Bristol, Somerset by SEA Group Ltd, now part of Thales Alenia Space UK.[10]

Timeline

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  • In May 2008, ESA signed a contract worth €263 million (£220 million/US$360 million) with EADS subsidiary Astrium.[9]
  • In early 2009, design and construction began.[10]
  • In September 2014, ESA and JAXA held a joined EarthCARE International Science Workshop.[11]
  • From 2014 to 2015, integration of the instruments took place.[11]
  • In 2015, the launch was postponed to 2018 due to problems with lidar development.[12]
  • On May 29 2024, at 00:20 CEST, EarthCARE was launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.[13][14]
  • In 2024 and 2025, CNES was conducting aerial campaigns with stratospheric baloons and aircraft over Cape Verde and France, in order to validate EarthCARE’s observations with data collected closer to surface.[15]
  • In January 2025, the mission’s first level data stream has been made freely available by ESA after EarthCARE finished its commissioning phase at the end of 2024.[16]
  • In March 2025, EarthCARE’s Level-2 data products have been made fully available. These products contain the properties of the atmosphere estimated from the mission’s measurements.[17]

Mission

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The aims of the mission are to improve understanding of the cloud, radiative and aerosol processes that affect the Earth's climate.[18] The mission is providing a picture of the 3-dimensional spatial and the temporal structure of the radiative flux field at the top of the atmosphere, within the atmosphere and at the Earth's surface. The high-performance lidar and radar technology, plus the synergistic use of the different remote sensing techniques on board EarthCARE, is delivering datasets allowing scientists to study the relationship of clouds, aerosols, and radiation at accuracy levels that will significantly improve our understanding of these highly-variable parameters. The mission is providing this information to improve predictions about the weather and future climate.[19]

Science

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The satellite is making measurements useful for a better understanding of the Earth's thermal and solar radiation balance. In particular, a combination of active (lidar and radar) and passive (radiometers and imagers) instruments enable EarthCARE to simultaneously measure the vertical and horizontal distribution of clouds and atmospheric aerosols along with top-of-atmosphere (TOA) long- and short-wave fluxes.

The spacecraft features four distinct instruments:[1]

  • ATmospheric LIDar (ATLID) - ESA / Airbus space Toulouse - 354.8 nm, high-spectral resolution and depolarisation (aerosols).
  • Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) - JAXA / NICT - 36 dBZ sensitivity, 500 m horizontal and 100 m vertical sampling resolution, Doppler capability (clouds). Operating at 94.05 GHz.[20]
  • Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) - ESA - 7 channels, 150 km swath, 500 m pixel resolution (clouds and aerosols).
  • Broad-Band Radiometer (BBR) - ESA - 2 channels, 3 views (nadir, fore and aft) (radiations).
Scale model of the satellite
EarthCARE solar wing deployed during testing
Inspecting satellite’s 11 metre solar wing in its folded configuration

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Eisinger, Michael; et al. (26 November 2018). EarthCARE The Earth Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Profiling Satellite Mission (PDF). ATMOS-2018. Salzburg, Austria: ESA. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  2. ^ https://www.esa.int/Newsroom/Press_Releases/EarthCARE_launched_to_study_role_of_clouds_and_aerosols_in_Earth_s_climate
  3. ^ Foust, Jeff (29 June 2023). "Vega C suffers setback in return to flight effort". SpaceNews. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  4. ^ "The White Dragon". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2024-05-27.
  5. ^ "EarthCARE out of the box". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2024-04-18.
  6. ^ "EarthCARE - Earth Online - ESA". ESA. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  7. ^ Illingworth, A. J.; Barker, H. W.; Beljaars, A.; Ceccaldi, M.; Chepfer, H.; Clerbaux, N.; Cole, J.; Delanoë, J.; Domenech, C.; Donovan, D. P.; Fukuda, S.; Hirakata, M.; Hogan, R. J.; Huenerbein, A.; Kollias, P.; Kubota, T.; Nakajima, T.; Nakajima, T. Y.; Nishizawa, T.; Ohno, Y.; Okamoto, H.; Oki, R.; Sato, K.; Satoh, M.; Shephard, M. W.; Velázquez-Blázquez, A.; Wandinger, U.; Wehr, T.; van Zadelhoff, G.-J. (2015). "The EarthCARE Satellite: The Next Step Forward in Global Measurements of Clouds, Aerosols, Precipitation, and Radiation" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 96 (8): 1311–1332. Bibcode:2015BAMS...96.1311I. doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00227.1. ISSN 0003-0007. S2CID 122041433.
  8. ^ "EarthCARE (Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation Explorer)". eoPortal. ESA. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  9. ^ a b "EarthCARE satellite contract signed". ESA. 27 May 2008.
  10. ^ a b c d Amos, Jonathan (18 February 2011). "Europe's Earthcare space laser mission gets go ahead". BBC News. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  11. ^ a b "ESA Bulletin 161 (1st quarter 2015)" (PDF). Esro / Bulletin Cers/Cecles. ESA: 70. 2015. ISSN 0376-4265. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  12. ^ de Selding, Peter B. (22 May 2015). "Cost, Schedule Woes on 2 Lidar Missions Push ESA To Change Contract Procedures". SpaceNews. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  13. ^ "EarthCARE is launched". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2025-03-31.
  14. ^ "Falcon 9 Block 5 | EarthCARE". nextspaceflight.com. Retrieved 2025-03-31.
  15. ^ "Mission EarthCARE : une validation scientifique de haut(s) vol(s) !". 2025-04-03.
  16. ^ "EarthCARE goes live with data now available to all". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2025-03-31.
  17. ^ "Level-2 data boost EarthCARE's profiling power - Earth Online". earth.esa.int. Archived from the original on 2025-03-18. Retrieved 2025-03-31.
  18. ^ "ESA's cloud, aerosol and radiation mission". ESA. 19 February 2013.
  19. ^ "Arianespace and ESA announce EarthCare launch contract". Arianespace (Press release). 28 October 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  20. ^ "WMO OSCAR | Details for Instrument CPR (Earth-CARE)". space.oscar.wmo.int. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
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