SSTL Founder & Chairman Sir Martin Sweeting was delighted to attend the launch of the joint ESA/JAXA EarthCARE satellite, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Along with many others, Sir Martin - pictured above with ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher - was eagerly awaiting the commencement of the exciting EarthCARE mission that will measure how clouds affect the climate.
EarthCARE is the largest and most complex of all of ESA’s trailblazing Earth Explorer missions – missions that deliver critical information to understand how our world functions and the impact that human activity is having on natural processes.
Developed as a cooperation between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), this exciting mission will make a range of different measurements that together will shed new light on the role that clouds and aerosols play in regulating Earth’s delicate temperature balance.
SSTL were responsible for manufacturing the Multi Spectral Imaging payload. SSTL CTO Andrew Haslehurst attended a pre-launch UK Media event, pictured below, also with Professor Anthony Illingworth, who, along with colleagues, put forward the original science concept for EarthCARE way back in 1993.
