EarthCARE embarks on journey to US

ESA’s EarthCARE satellite is all packed up in its container ready for shipment to the launch site in the US. The photograph shows the container ready to depart from Airbus’ facilities in Friedrichshafen, Germany, where EarthCARE was tested. Once it arrives at the launch site in California, it will be put into storage for a few weeks until it is time to ready the satellite for liftoff, which is planned for May.

EarthCARE carries a suite of instruments to answer some critical scientific questions related to the role that clouds and aerosols play in reflecting incident solar radiation back out to space and trapping infrared radiation emitted from Earth’s surface. Although clouds play an extremely important role in atmospheric heating and cooling, they remain one of the biggest mysteries – in fact the least understood factor – in our understanding of how the atmosphere drives the climate system. EarthCARE's unique set of four instruments provides a holistic view of the interplay between clouds, aerosols and radiation.