A new Earth observation mission arrived in space today (May 28).
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off today at 6:20 PM EDT (2220 GMT or 3:20 PM local time in California) on the Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer satellite, or EarthCARE for short, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. .
It was the second launch of the day for SpaceX, which also sent a group of its Starlink internet satellites into orbit this morning from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The first-stage Falcon 9 booster carrying out this mission has now arrived in space seven times, according to a SpaceX mission description. Previous missions include the launch of the Crew-7 Crew Dragon astronaut to the International Space Station, the CRS-29 cargo flight to the ISS and two Starlink missions.
The booster successfully landed back at Vandenberg today, about eight minutes after launch. About 2.5 minutes later, the Falcon 9 upper stage launched EarthCARE into orbit as planned.
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EarthCARE is a collaborative mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The mission will “investigate the role that clouds and aerosols play in reflecting solar radiation back into space and also in capturing infrared radiation emitted by the Earth’s surface,” ESA said.
Learning about the solar radiation balance on our planet “is crucial for tackling climate-related problems, and is something that can only be done from space,” ESA added.
The mission will operate in an orbit similar in altitude to that of the ISS (400 kilometers), but on a different plane: instead of the more equatorially oriented ISS, EarthCARE will fly in a sun-synchronous polar orbit that crosses the equator in the early afternoon, when sunlight is strongest in the region.
The mission will look down at cloud particles and aerosol molecules, or particles suspended in the atmosphere, to see how they interact with precipitation and how quickly they fall to our planet. EarthCARE will also “record the distribution of water droplets and ice crystals and how they are transported in clouds.”
“These essential data will improve the accuracy of both cloud development models and their behavior, composition and interaction with aerosols, as well as improve future climate models and support numerical weather predictions,” ESA officials added.
The satellite carries four scientific instruments: atmospheric lidar (a pulsed laser) to precisely examine cloud tops and cloud and aerosol profiles; a cloud profiling radar to learn about the movement, dynamics and structure of clouds; a broadband radiometer to investigate solar radiation and infrared radiation; and a multispectral imager.
EarthCARE is expected to undergo a six-month commissioning period after launch, and the primary mission is expected to last at least three years. It was previously expected to launch atop a Russian rocket, but mission officials switched to SpaceX after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, severing most space partnerships with that country.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated on May 28 at 6:35 PM EDT with news of a successful launch, rocket landing and satellite deployment.