Airbus is offering media representatives the opportunity of seeing the EarthCARE satellite up close in the cleanroom at Airbus facilities in Friedrichshafen, Germany, before the spacecraft is packed up and shipped to California, USA, for a launch scheduled in May.

EarthCARE is the largest and most complex of all of ESA’s trailblazing Earth Explorer missions – missions that deliver critical information to understand how our world functions and the impact that human activity is having on natural processes.

Equipped with four state-of-the-art instruments, this exciting mission will make a range of different measurements that together will shed new light on the role that clouds and aerosols play in regulating Earth’s delicate temperature balance.

With global climate change increasingly affecting our planet, EarthCARE is poised to provide data for climate research, improve the accuracy of climate models and support numerical weather prediction.

As well as being able to see this remarkable satellite in the cleanroom, the media will also have the opportunity to interview experts involved in the mission. The event will also include a Q&A session for further insight into the mission and what ESA’s Earth Observation Programme holds for the future.

EarthCARE has been developed as a cooperation between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), so representatives from JAXA will also be on hand to answer questions. Members from Airbus and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) will also be available to interview.

The Copernicus Sentinel-2C satellite, which is scheduled for launch later this year, will also be on show in the cleanroom.
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