Earth observation satellite nears launch date
The European Space Agency's (ESA) new Earth observing satellite, Envisat, has now arrived in Kourou, French Guiana, where engineers will prepare the satellite for its launch in the autumn. The satellite is central to ESA's strategy for Earth observation. From 800 kilometres above Earth, Envisat will monitor environmentally crucial processes such as changes in ocean circulation, the ice caps, land use and atmospheric pollution for five years. Envisat's instruments are either new developments or major improvements of those that flew on ERS-1 and -2, the agency's pioneering Earth observation satellites of the 1990s. The multiple instruments will also be crucial to the implementation of the global monitoring for environment and security proposed last year by ESA, the European Commission and the French Space Agency. The satellite has already undergone rigorous testing, including vibration testing equivalent to an earthquake of 7.5 on the Richter scale and acoustic tests that battered the satellite with the volume of 156 rock concerts. The satellite was also placed in a chamber, from which all air was sucked, for one month, recreating the hard vacuum and extreme temperatures of space.