The European Space Agency has launched Envisat. This is an advanced polar-orbiting Earth observation satellite and will provide measurements of the atmosphere, ocean, land, and ice over the next five years.

The Envisat satellite payload will add to the data measurements of the ESA ERS satellites ensuring continuity. The data will support Earth science research and also allow monitoring of the environmental and climatic changes.

The main objective of the Envisat programme is to endow Europe with an enhanced capability for the remote sensing observation of Earth from space, with the aim of further increasing the capacity of participating states to take part in the studying and monitoring of the Earth and its environment. *

The plan is to continue and improve upon measurements initiated by the ERS-1 and ERS-2 satellites.

As our world changes there is an increasing need to get accurate and unbroken data in order to measure the extent of environmental damage and predict accurately the future effects of our impact on the climate.

Envisat, as an undertaking of ESA member states plus Canada, constitutes a major contribution to the international effort of space agencies worldwide to provide the data and information required to further the understanding, modeling, and prediction of environmental and climatic changes. *

Click Here for lots more information at the ENVISAT Website.

* Extracts from the ENVISAT Website. © ESA 2002.