EarthCARE satellite launch
ESA’s Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) satellite was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, on 29 May 2024 at 00:20 CEST (28 May 2024, 15:20 local time).
The mission has been developed as a cooperation between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and it is one of the most important missions to better evaluate and improve the understanding of the contribution of clouds, aerosols, precipitation and associated radiative fluxes in weather forecasting and climate models.
The satellite carries a set of four instruments to make a range of different measurements that together will provide a unique vision of the interactions between clouds, aerosols and radiation and the role they play in regulating Earth’s climate.
