ESA Observing the Earth

EarthCARE: cloud and aerosol mission

A new satellite called EarthCARE launching later this month will provide unprecedented data on clouds and aerosols, contributing to our understanding of climate change. As we approach its launch, join us as we delve into the minds of some of the individuals who have contributed to EarthCARE over the years.

The mission will shed new light on the role that clouds and aerosols play in regulating Earth’s temperature.

This video features interviews with: Dave Donovan, Senior Scientist at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, Robin Hogan, Senior Scientist at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Ulla Wandinger, Senior Scientist at Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research, Alain Lefebvre, Retired Project Manager of EarthCARE at ESA, Hajime Okamoto, Director, Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University, Bjoern Frommknecht, EarthCARE Mission Manager at ESA, Edward Baudrez, Scientific Assistant at the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium, Thorsten Fehr, EarthCARE Mission Scientist at ESA, Pavlos Kollias from Stony Brook University – McGill University and Dirk Bernaerts, EarthCARE Project Manager at ESA.

Follow the EarthCARE launch campaign blog for more updates.

Media advisory: EarthCARE launch media opportunities

Explore this mission kit to learn more about EarthCARE – ESA’s new mission that will shed new light on the role that clouds and aerosols play in regulating Earth’s climate.

Wildfire season has arrived in full force in Canada, prompting evacuation orders and alerts in several towns in British Columbia and Alberta due to the danger of uncontrolled blazes.

Hazardous smoke from the fires has also triggered air quality alerts in Canada and the northern US. Satellite technology, including the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite and ESA’s Fire Atlas, plays a crucial role in monitoring these wildfires.

The upcoming launch of the Φsat-2 mission is a prime example of the pioneering work that ESA does in the field of AI in Earth observation.

But when it comes to AI, hopes and fears abound in equal measure. In this interview, ESA’s Rochelle Schneider sets the record straight on how this transformational technology is improving access to crucial information on the state and future of our planet.

Teams at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, are currently engaged in intensive preparations for the critical ‘Launch and Early Orbit’ phase of the agency's EarthCARE satellite.

As we approach the launch of ESA’s EarthCARE mission, we caught up with some of the scientists, engineers and experts behind the mission.

With the climate crisis increasingly tightening its grip, ESA’s Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer mission (EarthCARE) will shed new light on the complex interactions between clouds, aerosols and radiation in Earth’s atmosphere.

EarthCARE is the largest and most complex Earth Explorer mission. It comes at a critical time in the development of kilometre-scale resolution, global climate models and will provide an important contribution to an improved understanding of cloud convection and its role in Earth’s radiation budget.

EarthCARE is an ESA mission, but it has been developed as a cooperation between ESA and JAXA, the Japanese Space Agency.

This video features interviews with: Pavlos Kollias from Stony Brook University – McGill University, Thorsten Fehr, EarthCARE Mission Scientist at ESA, Robin Hogan, Senior Scientist at ECMWF, Dirk Bernaerts, EarthCARE Project Manager at ESA, Kotska Wallace, Mission and Optical Payload Manager at ESA, Tomomi Nio, EarthCARE Mission Manager at JAXA, Eiichi Tomita, EarthCARE/CPR Project Manager at JAXA, Ulla Wandinger, Senior Scientist at Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research and Bjoern Frommknecht, EarthCARE Mission Manager at ESA.

Follow the EarthCARE launch campaign blog for more updates.

Access the related broadcast quality footage: animations / interviews / satellite stock footage

A few weeks ago, a team of engineers carefully extracted ESA's EarthCARE satellite from its protective transport container, initiating a meticulous process of inspection, testing and preparation for its liftoff later this month from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Amidst an extensive checklist of tasks, was a rigorous effort to guarantee that the satellite is in pristine condition, underscoring the thorough attention to detail essential to making the satellite ready for launch.

Destination Earth goes live

Watch the event broadcast live from Finland on 10 June