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ERS
(European Radar Satellite)
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ERS-1 is the most sophisticated Earth observation
satellite ever developed in Europe. It weighs well
over two tons and, fully deployed, covers almost 12
metres Ñ a big bird circling the Earth once every 100 minutes, 780 km up, beaming down data at a mind-boggling 120 megabits per second. ERS-1's payload consists essentially of two specialised radars plus an infrared sensor. The Active Microwave Instrument - the biggest on-board system
- produces extremely detailed images of a 100 km swath of the Earth's surface : 4.5 million pixels
per second, downlinked directly to Earth.
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In wind and wave modes, the instrument measures
continuously and globally wind speed and direction and ocean wave parameters.
The Radar Altimeter, the second instrument, measures with fantastic precision variations in the satellite's height above sea-level and ice. And the third Instrument, the Along-Track Scanning Radiometer, constructs detailed pictures of the thermal structure of the seas and oceans from surface temperature measurements correct to better than O.5 degrees Celsius.
In April 1995, ESA launched ERS-2, a carbon copy of ERS-1 with one important difference: ERS-2's payload includes a new instrument (GOME), purpose-designed to measure stratospheric and tropospheric ozone - an important step in the race to fully assess yet another environmental challenge. No other satellite can compete with ERS capabilities. On a global scale ERS is giving scientists more confidence in modelling the climate of our planet. Regionally it keeps a close eye on coastlines, marine pollution and land use changes.
[LRSGIS]
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