Envisat 1

Envisat 1 [Astrium]

Envisat (Environment Satellite) is an advanced polar-orbiting Earth observation satellite which providew measurements of the atmosphere, ocean, land and ice over a five year period and was launched in March 2002 on an Ariane-5G rocket by the European Space Agency (ESA).

The Polar Platform (PPF) has two elements: 

• The SM houses the main satellite support functions, such as command and control, communications with the ground, power, attitude and orbit control, and propulsion.
• The PLM houses Envisat instruments and PPF payload support equipment (data management and communications, electrical distribution).

The instruments aboard the PLM include: 

• Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS);
• Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars (GOMOS);
• Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Cartography (SCIAMACHY);
• Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS);
• Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR);
• Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR);
• Radar Altimeter 2 (RA-2);
• Microwave Radiometer (MWR);
• Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS);
• Laser Retro-Reflector (LRR).

The Envisat data supportw Earth science research and allow monitoring of the evolution of environmental and climatic changes. It also facilitates the development of operational and commercial applications.