Three so-called processors, which the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) has developed together with partners, are making an important contribution to the mission. These algorithms have now been described in detail in a special issue of the journal Atmospheric Measurement Techniques.

The new software makes it possible to derive cloud properties from the passive spectrometer (MSI), aerosol and cloud layers from the active, high-spectral-resolution lidar (ATLID) as well as synergetic cloud and aerosol products from both instruments. An aerosol classification model (HETEAC) was developed as the basis for aerosol typing to ensure that these calculations work across the different devices.

EarthCARE will be the first to combine a high-spectral-resolution lidar and a Doppler cloud radar with passive sensors, making it the most complex satellite mission ever launched into space to study aerosol, clouds and their radiative effects. The development of EarthCARE took more than 15 years and cost around 800 million euros.

The satellite offers great opportunities for science: State-of-the-art technology on board provides a variety of data that will improve the accuracy of climate models and support numerical weather prediction.

The EarthCARE satellite, which is 17.2 meters long, 2.5 meters wide, 3.5 meters high and weighs around 2,200 kilograms, was assembled by the German prime contractor Airbus in Friedrichshafen, tested extensively together with ESA and then transported by plane to Vandenberg (California, U.S.), where it will be launched into its target orbit at an altitude of 393 kilometers by a Falcon 9 rocket from the US space company SpaceX at the end of May.