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Propelled by a SpaceX rocket from California, the Earthcare satellite has just reached its orbit. This technological gem, weighing no less than 2.3 tonnes, was developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA). Packed with cutting-edge measuring instruments, it represents one of ESA’s most ambitious Earth observation projects. Its mission ? to study clouds and decipher their impact on our planet's climate.
Earthcare: the story of an international collaboration
Equipped with four cutting-edge instruments, Earthcare combines a European ultraviolet laser and a radar Japanese to probe clouds, detect aerosols and measure precipitation in its various forms: rain, hail and snow.
Twenty years of effort and exemplary international cooperationmade it possible to realize the project, born in 1993 in the mind of Professor Anthony Illingworth of the University of Reading. The most difficult technical challenge lay in the design of the space lidar by Airbus-France, which delayed the mission and increased its cost to around 850 million euros. If Earthcare was a success, it is because its design was based on the involvement of multiple European and Japanese actors.
First of all, its structure was built by Airbus in Germany and the imager and radiometer were was designed in partnership with the United Kingdom. The ground system, responsible for collecting the data, was set up by GMV-UK, a British subsidiary of the Spanish technology multinational GMV, specializing in aerospace and defense.
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