The EarthCARE mission is the sixth Earth Explorer Mission of the ESA Living Planet Programme, with a launch date planned in 2015. It addresses the interaction and impact of clouds and aerosols on the Earth’s radiative budget. ATLID (ATmospheric LIDar), one of the four instruments of EarthCARE, shall determine vertical profiles of cloud and aerosol physical parameters (altitude, optical depth, backscatter ratio and depolarisation ratio) in synergy with other instruments. Operating in the UV range at 355 nm, ATLID provides atmospheric echoes with a vertical resolution of about 100 m from ground to an altitude of 40 km. As a result of high spectral resolution filtering, the lidar is able to separate the relative contribution of aerosol (Mie) and molecular (Rayleigh) scattering, which gives access to aerosol optical depth.
The purpose of the paper is to present the progress in the instrument and subsystem design. The instrument is currently in phase C where the detailed design of all sub-systems is being performed. Emphasis will be put on the major technological developments, in particular the laser Transmitter, the optical units and detector developments.
EarthCARE is the Earth Clouds Aerosols and Radiation Explorer mission. The project is the result of a
collaboration between ESA and JAXA.
The satellite will carry four instruments: an atmospheric lidar (ATLID), a cloud profiling radar (CPR)
provided by JAXA, a multi spectral imager (MSI) and a broadband radiometer (BBR).
The payload elements will operate in synergy to provide a better understanding of clouds and aerosols and
their impact on the Earth’s climate. An important aspect of the mission is that, for the first time, the suite of
instruments will make near simultaneous observations of the same cloud/aerosol scene,
The presentation will describe the satellite and its mission and will make particular reference to the design
and current development status of the payload.
The Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) will be flown on board the EarthCARE spacecraft, under development by the
European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The fundamental objective of the
EarthCARE mission is improving the understanding of the processes involving clouds, aerosols and radiation in the
Earth’s atmosphere. In addition to the MSI instrument, a Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR), an Atmospheric Lidar (ATLID),
and a Broadband Radiometer (BBR) complete the payload of the EarthCARE satellite. By acquiring images of the
clouds and aerosol distribution, the MSI instrument will provide important contextual information in support of the radar
and lidar geophysical retrievals.
The MSI development philosophy is based on the early development of an Engineering Confidence Model (ECM) and
the subsequent development of a Proto-flight Model, the model to be launched on-board the EarthCARE satellite. This
paper provides an overview of the MSI instrument and its development approach. A description of the ECM and its
verification program is also provided.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is currently developing, in co-operation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency (JAXA) the EarthCARE satellite mission with the basic objective of improving the understanding of the cloudaerosols-
radiation interactions within the Earth's atmosphere. As part of the EarthCARE payload, the MSI instrument
will provide images of the earth in 7 spectral bands in the visible and infrared parts of the spectrum, with a spatial ground
resolution of 500 m and an image width on the ground of 150 km.
The radiometric accuracy of the MSI instrument is of paramount importance to accurately retrieve the physical
properties of clouds and aerosols from the radiometric measurements in the different MSI spectral channels. The prelaunch
calibration campaign together with the in-flight calibration facilities that the MSI instrument incorporates will
ensure the fulfilment of the radiometric requirements of the mission. The overall calibration approach for the MSI
instrument is described in this paper, including the pre-launch and in-flight calibration activities.
EarthCARE is ESA's Earth Clouds Aerosols and Radiation Explorer and is a joint mission in collaboration with JAXA.
The satellite will carry a suite of instruments which operate in synergy to provide simultaneous observations of clouds
and aerosols and will lead to improved understanding and modelling of these factors as well as their role in climatology.
Development of the four instrument payload, consisting of an Atmospheric Lidar (ATLID), a Cloud Profiling Radar
(CPR), a Multi Spectral Imager (MSI) and a Broad Band Radiometer (BBR) has been continuing for some time now
and all instruments have progressed beyond the preliminary design stage.
The paper will describe the mission, the satellite and in particular the principles, performance and design evolution of
the payload.
EarthCARE is ESA's Earth Clouds Aerosols and Radiation Explorer and is a joint mission in collaboration with JAXA.
The satellite will carry a suite of instruments which operate in synergy to provide simultaneous observations of clouds
and aerosols and will lead to improved understanding and modelling of these factors as well as their role in climatology.
Development of the four instrument payload, consisting of an Atmospheric Lidar (ATLID), a Cloud Profiling Radar
(CPR), a Multi Spectral Imager (MSI) and a Broad Band Radiometer (BBR) has been continuing for some time now
and all instruments have progressed beyond the preliminary design stage.
The paper will describe the mission, the satellite and in particular the principles, performance and design evolution of
the payload.
Clouds and aerosols are important atmospheric elements that strongly influence the weather and climate on planet Earth.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is currently developing, in co-operation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency (JAXA) the EarthCARE satellite mission with the objective of improving the understanding of the cloudaerosols-
radiation interactions within the Earth's atmosphere. It is foreseen that the data provided by the EarthCARE
satellite will allow the improvement of the currently available numerical prediction models, and therefore the quality of
the weather forecast and climate evolution predictions.
The payload of the EarthCARE satellite consists of a Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR), a Backscatter Lidar (ATLID), a
Broadband Radiometer (BBR), and a Multi-spectral Imager (MSI). The MSI instrument will provide images of the earth
in 7 spectral bands in the visible and infrared parts of the spectrum, with a spatial ground resolution of 500 m and an
image width on the ground of 150 km. This paper provides a description of the MSI instrument and its expected
performance.
EarthCARE is ESA's Clouds Aerosols and Radiation Explorer. It is a joint mission in collaboration with
JAXA.
The satellite will carry a payload of four instruments: an atmospheric lidar (ATLID), a cloud profiling radar
(CPR) provided by JAXA, a multi spectral imager (MSI) and a
broad-band radiometer (BBR).
The four instruments will operate synergistically with the aim of providing a better understanding of clouds
and aerosols and their impact on Earth's climatology. An important feature of the mission is that its
instruments will make, for the first time, near simultaneous measurements of the same cloud/aerosol scene,
The presentation will describe the satellite, its mission and in particular, the design and specifications of the payload.
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