Spaceflight

Astrium has signed a €263m contract with the European Space Agency to build the EarthCARE satellite, the sixth in ESA's Living Planet programme.

The satellite will weigh about 1.7 tonnes and be placed in a 400km high orbit. Launch is scheduled for 2013 and EarthCARE will be equipped with a range of instruments developed by ESA and JAXA, including an atmospheric Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging), a broad-band radiometer, a multi-spectral imager and cloud profiling radar.

EarthCARE, ESA's cloud and aerosol mission, was developed in conjunction with JAXA, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, and will address the need for a better understanding of the role of natural and man-made aerosols in cloud formation and climate regulation.

The programme will lead to better climate predictions and better weather forecasts.

Volker Liebig, ESA's director of observation, says: “The role of aerosols in cloud formation and their interaction with radiation is not completely understood by science, but they play an important role in climate regulation.”

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