The Earth Explorer EarthCARE is launched

Abstract

On the 28 May the time has finally come that Earth-CARE, the Earth Cloud Aerosol und Radiation Explorer, was launched and sent its first signals back to Earth. The mission comes just right in time to continue NASA’s successful tandem missions CALIPSO/CloudSat, which ended in 2023, and to start a new era of atmospheric satellite observations. The joined mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was launched with a Falcon 9 from SpaceX in Vandenberg, California, US (Figure 8). The countdown ran like clockwork and the launch was perfect. About ten minutes after take-off separation took place and the EarthCARE satellite could be seen drifting away (Figure 9). This was a very emotional moment for the whole team. But the relieving moment was yet to come with the first signals acquired at the satellite receiving station in Hartebeesthoek, South Africa. The signal was received and EarthCARE told us it was well with all systems nominal and the solar array already deployed. As soon as the first instruments are running smoothly the work starts for the Calibration and Validation teams.