ESA/JAXA - EarthCARE (Hakuryu) Mission Updates

[bolun]

Last look at EarthCARE

ESA’s EarthCARE satellite being encapsulated with in the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fairing, which protects the satellite during the first stages of launch.

EarthCARE is getting ready for lift-off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, with a target launch date of no earlier than 28 May 2024.

Image credit: SpaceX

[bolun]

https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/FutureEO/EarthCARE/EarthCARE_mission_kit

EarthCARE mission kit (static version)

[bolun]

Satellite to understand Earth’s radiation balance takes to the skies

ESA’s EarthCARE satellite lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, US, on 29 May at 00:20 CEST (28 May, 15:20 local time).

The Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer satellite, or EarthCARE for short, carries a set of four instruments to make a range of different measurements that together will shed new light on the interplay between clouds, aerosols, incoming solar energy and outgoing radiation, which together regulate Earth’s climate. With the climate crisis increasingly affecting our planet, EarthCARE is poised to provide key data for climate research, to improve the accuracy of climate models and to support numerical weather prediction.

EarthCARE has been developed as a cooperation between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/05/Satellite_to_understand_Earth_s_radiation_balance_takes_to_the_skies

Related articles:

EarthCARE launched to study role of clouds and aerosols in Earth's climate (ESA)

Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) Launch Result (JAXA)

Image credit: SpaceX

[catdlr]

ESA summary video

[jacqmans]

EarthCARE on cloud nine after smooth start to mission
05/06/2024


ESA’s EarthCARE mission has completed its important ‘Launch and Early Orbit Phase’ and is ready to begin the commissioning of its four scientific instruments. The data they gather will improve our understanding of the role that clouds and aerosols play in Earth’s radiation balance and benefit both climate modelling and weather forecasting.

EarthCARE launched at 00:20 CEST on 29 May on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA. A launch is always spectacular – decades of hard work have led to this pivotal moment – but it doesn’t last long. Just 10 minutes after launch, EarthCARE separated from the rocket and was, for the first time, alone in orbit.

EarthCARE then began switching on key systems and deploying its long, trailing solar array – or, at least, that’s what the Flight Control Team at ESA’s ESOC mission control centre in Germany hoped. This sequence of activities was carried out automatically and mission control had to wait for the first signals from the satellite to confirm that everything had gone as planned.

Approximately 52 minutes after launch, as EarthCARE passed over Hartebeesthoek satellite station in South Africa, they received this all-important ‘acquisition of signal’ from the new mission. The ESA team could now lock on to the spacecraft and begin receiving telemetry data containing information on its status following the mechanical stress of launch.

“It’s always tense in the moments before we capture the first signal. Until then, we are not yet in control,” explains Isabel Rojo, EarthCARE Spacecraft Operations Manager.

“The moment that the first telemetry arrives is cause for celebration, but it also sparks a flurry of activity inside the Main Control Room. EarthCARE is now in our hands, and we immediately begin assessing the spacecraft’s health and preparing it for life in orbit.”

With the confirmation that the spacecraft had successfully executed its first commands and that the solar array had deployed correctly and was generating power, EarthCARE Flight Director, Jose Morales, declared: “we have a mission!”.


https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Operations/EarthCARE_on_cloud_nine_after_smooth_start_to_mission

[Targeteer]

https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/FutureEO/EarthCARE/A_first_EarthCARE_reveals_inner_secrets_of_clouds?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3Ba4gVGNC9mVo0tUtyNNupebQeE7Gzwx0WHlnIZHicntC1qfbXn19F4qw_aem_pF8KPqsS3p1KEC52jMEQxw

A first: EarthCARE reveals inner secrets of clouds
27/06/2024 995 views 7 likes
ESA / Applications / Observing the Earth / FutureEO / EarthCARE

Less than a month after it was launched, ESA’s EarthCARE satellite has returned the first image from one of its instruments – an image that, for the first time from space, unveils the internal structure and dynamics of clouds.

This remarkable first image, captured by the satellite’s cloud profiling radar, offers a mere glimpse of the instrument's full potential once it is fully calibrated.

EarthCARE carries four sophisticated instruments that have been designed to work in harmony to shed new light on the role that clouds and aerosols play in heating and cooling Earth’s atmosphere, thereby contributing to a better understanding of climate change.

Launched just a matter of a few weeks ago, on 29 May, EarthCARE has already delivered its first image from the cloud profiling radar instrument, which was provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA.

The first data from the satellite’s three European instruments – the broadband radiometer, the atmospheric lidar and the multispectral imager – are expected in the next weeks and months.

JAXA’s Mission Scientist for the cloud profiling radar, Takuji Kubota, said, “We are thrilled to be able to present this first image, which reveals detail on the internal structure of cloud dynamics over the ocean, east of Japan on 13 June.

“This is the first image of its kind – we have never had this kind of information measured from space before. It is all we hoped for, and more. I believe that the cloud profiling radar will bring various scientific discoveries.”

This first image is displayed above in two parts. On the left, the data unveils the vertical concentration of cloud particles measured as radar reflectivity. It is clear to see that the denser part of the cloud is in its centre where there are more large particles and the particles are large.

On the right, we see the fall speed of the cloud particles. The low values in the upper layer indicate ice crystals and snowflakes that are suspended or falling slowly. In the layer beneath, the much higher fall speed values indicate rain.

Both images show a clear boundary at an altitude of around 5 km, which is where the ice and snow melt, forming water droplets that fall as rain.

The cloud profiling radar uses its Doppler velocity capability to measure the vertical speed of motion of the ice, snow and rain.

This detailed information about the density, distribution by size and velocity of particles allows scientists to distinguish cloud constituents and hence better understand their physics.

Thanks to EarthCARE, this is the first time that this measurement has ever been provided from space.

To give some context to these first results, the image on the right shows the same cloud system captured by the Japanese Himawari-9 meteorological satellite in geostationary orbit, around 36 000 km above Earth. The image has been overlaid with EarthCARE’s orbital track.

EarthCARE’s cloud profiling radar captured its first data between the A and B markers in this image.


Then the next two images show the vertically-resolved concentration of cloud particles measured in radar reflectivity and vertically-resolved velocity of the cloud particles from EarthCARE's cloud profiling radar data between the A and B markers in the Himawari-9 image.

Conventionally, these data can only be obtained by cloud radar on the ground or on aircraft. These methods can only measure limited areas, but the cloud profiling radar aboard the EarthCARE satellite allows cloud structure to be measured uniformly across the entire planet.


ESA’s Director for Earth Observation Programmes, Simonetta Cheli, added, “This is a fantastic first result from our JAXA partners, and a true indication of what we can expect in the future when the satellite and all of its instruments are fully calibrated and commissioned.

“We now look forward to seeing the first results from EarthCARE’s other three instruments.

“The key to the mission is having all four instruments working together to give us a holistic understanding of the highly complex interactions between clouds, aerosols, incoming solar radiation and outgoing thermal radiation to help better predict future climate trends.”

[jacqmans]

EarthCARE’s multispectral imager puts clouds into context
24/07/2024

Launched less than two months ago, ESA’s EarthCARE satellite has already returned images from two of its four instruments. Now, it has also delivered the first images from its multispectral imager, showcasing various types of clouds and cloud temperatures worldwide. This instrument is set to add valuable context to the data from EarthCARE’s other instruments.

Equipped with four state-of-the-art instruments – a cloud profiling radar, an atmospheric lidar, a broadband radiometer and a multispectral imager – EarthCARE makes a range of different measurements simultaneously. Together, these measurements will help to understand how clouds and aerosols reflect incoming solar energy back out to space and how they trap outgoing infrared energy.

This information is crucial for understanding how climate change is affecting Earth’s energy balance and for predicting the rate at which clouds and aerosols could lose their current overall cooling effect in the future.

EarthCARE was launched into orbit around Earth on 29 May. A mere month later, this remarkable satellite returned the first images from the cloud profiling radar, shortly followed by the first images from the broadband radiometer.

After spending a few weeks after being launched with its optical system protected during the initial release of gases trapped in the satellite, the multispectral imager has added to the list of EarthCARE’s impressive first results.

The lidar and radar provide profiles in a rather thin curtain directly underneath the satellite. However, the multispectral imager provides a much wider field-of-view of 160 km, which gives context to the profiles and allows them to be extended into wider 3D scenes.

The multispectral imager also provides spectral information used to improve the accuracy of the broadband radiometer observations. It comprises two cameras: one imaging in the visible, near-infrared and shortwave-infrared (VIS-NIR-SWIR) parts of the of the electromagnetic spectrum and one in the thermal-infrared (TIR). Images captured with these different spectral bands will allow scientists to differentiate between various cloud types, aerosols and Earth’s surface.


https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/FutureEO/EarthCARE/EarthCARE_s_multispectral_imager_puts_clouds_into_context#msdynmkt_trackingcontext=003c0d82-6d44-4501-8242-85e6c3657c10

[jacqmans]

EarthCARE profiles atmospheric particles in detail
21/08/2024

Launched in May, ESA’s EarthCARE satellite has been making waves, with the first images from three of its scientific instruments already delivered. Now, the spotlight is firmly on the atmospheric lidar, the most advanced of the satellite’s four instruments.

This cutting-edge sensor has captured detailed 20 km-high vertical profiles of atmospheric aerosols – tiny particles and droplets from natural sources like wildfires, dust, and sea spray, and from human activities like industrial emissions or burning of wood – and clouds across various regions of the globe.

By emitting pulses of ultraviolet light and analysing the reflected signals, this unique lidar is used to measure the distribution and properties of aerosols and clouds, including their altitude, thickness, optical properties, and physical characteristics.

Working in unison with the satellite’s other three instruments, this is crucial for understanding the role of aerosols and clouds in Earth’s energy balance. The atmospheric lidar, in particular, will also deliver important input to improve air-quality forecasts.

The first image here, from the atmospheric lidar on 2 August, offers a profile of polar stratospheric clouds over Antarctica. The grey strip below, as featured in all of the images, is the corresponding area captured in the infrared by EarthCARE’s multispectral imager instrument, which gives natural visual context to all of the instruments’ data.

Polar stratospheric clouds are crucial contributors to the depletion of stratospheric ozone during winter and spring. These clouds serve as surfaces for chemical reactions that generate chlorine free-radicals, which actively destroy ozone molecules in the stratosphere. This process is a key factor in the formation of the infamous ozone hole over Antarctica.

The jagged shape of the clouds in the centre-right is likely to be caused by gravity waves. Gravity waves form when air is forced upwards into a layer of stable air and gravity drags the air back down, creating a ripple effect – like the ripples of waves in the ocean.

These waves transfer energy and momentum from the lower atmosphere to the upper atmosphere, influencing weather patterns, general atmospheric circulation and impact the formation of polar stratospheric clouds.

The second image, captured on 4 August, is a strip over North America. Here, the presence of tropical storm Debby is clear to see over the Gulf of Mexico, as are large convective clouds further north. As these clouds are optically very thick, as can be seen in the multispectral imager information, the lidar captures details of the cloud tops, but cannot see below them.

Additionally, a striking red layer of aerosols is visible in the central part of the profile. These aerosols have been carried by the wind from forest fires that have been burning for a number of weeks in several regions of Canada.

Smoke from forest fires plays a complex role in climate change, with both immediate and long-term effects that can disrupt weather patterns, accelerate global warming, as well as impact air quality when close to the ground.

Beneath this dense layer of smoke lies a more diffuse concentration of aerosols, originating from a variety of sources.

The third image, captured on 3 August over the mid-Atlantic, is particularly rich in information. High-altitude cirrus clouds, deep convection clouds and low, thin clouds all feature in this profile. There are also two different types of aerosol: marine aerosols that include salt spray from the ocean, and a thick layer of dust blowing off the African Sahara desert.

Understanding the complex relationship of these clouds and aerosols in the Tropics is fundamental to understanding Earth’s climate and how it will change.

The last image, from 2 August, is a strip over Africa. As well as high convection clouds, the most prominent feature here is a very dense layer of aerosols from biomass burning, which is common at this time of the year over large parts of the continent. These fires are mostly ignited to remove forest or last year’s crop growth and make way for cleared agricultural land.

ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Simonetta Cheli, said, “Following on from the first images from EarthCARE’s other three instruments, we can now also see how well the atmospheric lidar is working.These profiles from the atmospheric lidar come exactly as we had anticipated, after the instrument has been through its routine decontamination and calibration processes.

“The atmospheric lidar brings us completely new insight into the vertical distribution of clouds and aerosols and, together with the other instruments, puts us on course to gaining new scientific understanding into Earth’s energy balance.”


As part of the ongoing efforts to validate EarthCARE’s instruments, an extensive field campaign is now in full swing.

The ORCESTRA campaign is an international initiative that combines eight different sub-campaigns where measurements are taken from different aircraft, ships and ground-based instruments, to compare with EarthCARE’s measurements. A number of measurements are carefully timed to be taken at the same time as EarthCARE passes overhead. In addition, a NASA campaign called ARCSIX also under-flew EarthCARE with their lidar and multispectral imager.

https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/FutureEO/EarthCARE/EarthCARE_profiles_atmospheric_particles_in_detail#msdynmkt_trackingcontext=92e47ff6-109d-44b6-9c14-1bf7fb082430

[jacqmans]

https://twitter.com/esa/status/1846457308370317595

[AndrewM]

Some updates from late last year as instruments were commissioned.

Up first, the Data, Innovations and Science Cluster team began operations.

https://twitter.com/esa_earthcare/status/1858460265727042009 [Nov 18]

After several months of calibration and validation efforts, EarthCARE will soon be fully commissioned and ready for scientific use.

That means it's time for the Data, Innovation and Science Cluster (DISC) to start its essential role!

DISCover more 🪩🕺👉https://earth.esa.int/eogateway/news/introducing-earthcare-s-data-innovation-and-science-cluster

Up next, EarthCARE completed a key portion of its commissioning phase.

https://twitter.com/esa_earthcare/status/1862116314929635509 [Nov 28]

Another huge milestone for #EarthCARE today ✅

Our cloud and aerosol mission is now ready for scientific use 🥳

The commissioning phase is over and all systems are operational and performing well 👌

Get ready to learn a lot more about our climate system!

Update to the wording here, the ESA and space segment industry review of EarthCARE's commissioning phase is complete today.

We still have a few steps yet to go before full commissioning!

Level 1 data will be made available to users in January 2025.

https://twitter.com/esa_earthcare/status/1862452432980386265 [Nov 29]

ANOTHER milestone for EarthCARE 😍

Thanks to one of @esa's most intense validation efforts ever, "this level of accuracy is an amazing achievement for this phase of the mission”

60+ flights 🧑‍✈️
8 Airborne campaigns 🗺️
9 Aircraft 🛩️
7 lidars 🚨
4 radars 🔉
4 imagers 📸
➕ more!

The DISC acceptance review was then successfully held in December.

https://twitter.com/esa_earthcare/status/1863896848085233963 [Dec 3]

Today is the EarthCARE DISC acceptance review.

We'll hear from all the teams who will deliver the best quality EarthCARE data products for scientists!

Here they all are at a recent meeting in ESRIN 🤩

What is the DISC?

Putting an Earth Explorer satellite into space is the result of decades of hard work, pioneering ingenuity and perseverance, but in some ways that is just the beginning.

The data, and the data products with which users can access and analyse those data, are critical.

Considering EarthCARE is flying a Doppler cloud profiling radar (CPR), atmospheric lidar (ATLID), multispectral imager (MSI) and broadband radiometer (BBR) -all working in unison- that is no mean feat.

The EarthCARE DISC is a cluster of product, sensor and processor experts from 16 organisations, which will ensure that users get the best quality data and science products.

The DISC is led by Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff and Antje Ludewig of @KNMI, with service management provided by @TelespazioUK, led by Kajal Haria.

[AndrewM]

In January, EarthCARE commissioning was completed and L1 data went live.

https://twitter.com/esa_earthcare/status/1879827289661493537 [Jan 16]

A MASSIVE milestone for EarthCARE!

EarthCARE goes live with data now available to all 📊

Level-1 data acquired on 9 January 2025 by the satellite’s atmospheric lidar show smoke from the current Los Angeles wildfire disaster being carried over the Pacific Ocean by strong winds.

https://twitter.com/esa_earthcare/status/1884557169497948410 [Jan 29]

EarthCARE data is now public!

Time for a closer look at the fully processed, calibrated, and geolocated measurements acquired by each of our fours instruments in the latest piece on @ESA_EarthOnline

In just a few months, you'll also have higher level products, with derived cloud, aerosols and radiative properties, to get stuck into! ☁️🏭🌡️

👉https://earth.esa.int/eogateway/news/earthcare-s-first-data-products

https://twitter.com/esa_earthcare/status/1887841443001036833 [Feb 7]

‼️Reminder ‼️

Following completion of the commissioning phase for ESA’s EarthCARE mission, the first set of data products are now openly available.

The exciting science begins! 🥳

👉https://earth.esa.int/eogateway/news/earthcare-s-first-data-products/types-of-earthcare-data

[jacqmans]

5 things we learned in EarthCARE’s impressive first year
29 May 2025

Clouds and aerosols, and their contribution to Earth's energy balance, are already less mysterious after the Earth Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer's first year in orbit.

EarthCARE, also known as Hakuryu (“White Dragon”), a collaboration between the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), was launched just after midnight CEST on 29 May 2024.

It was a nerve-wracking moment for all those who spent over two decades developing a satellite whose fate rested at the tip of a rocket, but the successful launch marked a new beginning for ESA's most complex Earth Explorer satellite yet.

For the first time from space, we could measure the speed of falling snow and rain, and plenty more. From spectacular polar stratospheric clouds to immense international collaboration and even swarms of insects and phytoplankton, here are five things we have learned thanks to EarthCARE this year.


 Working together for EarthCARE

Launching a single satellite instrument is a remarkable technical achievement, let alone four. Going a step further still, EarthCARE's innovative instruments all work in combination.

The first to be fired up was the Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR), which was developed by JAXA, unveiling the internal structure and dynamics of clouds for the first time from space.

That was quickly followed by the Broadband Radiometer (BBR) shedding light on Earth's energy balance, the Multispectral Imager (MSI) putting clouds into context, and the Atmospheric Lidar (ATLID), which provides detailed profiles of atmospheric particles from sea spray to cloud tops.

Within just a few months of launch, the instruments were working together to measure how much clouds and aerosols heat and cool the atmosphere.

With the satellite working well, the critical data must then get to those who use EarthCARE data to improve weather forecasts and climate models.

This requires not only technical expertise but excellent international collaboration, between ESA and JAXA, and the 16 organisations spanning 9 countries comprising the EarthCARE data, innovation and science cluster (DISC), whose algorithms are used to process the data to produce a range of science products that benefit end users.

There is also the calibration and validation community of hundreds of researchers, who have flown from the Arctic Circle to Cabo Verde, and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, to make sure EarthCARE data are reliable and accurate.

At the 2nd In-Orbit ESA-JAXA Calibration and Validation Workshop in March 2025, we learned that all the hard work was worth it, and the early results have been hugely promising.

https://earth.esa.int/eogateway/success-story/5-things-we-learned-in-earthcare-s-impressive-first-year#msdynmkt_trackingcontext=9fe51959-f220-4139-a5d4-ff4804860200

[AndrewM]

Here are 2 additional press releases for the 1 year anniversary of launch.

New EarthCARE Data Products Released: Advancing Our Understanding of Clouds and Aerosols [May 29]

The EarthCARE (Earth Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer) mission, a joint initiative by ESA, JAXA, NICT, and research institutes across Europe and Japan, has reached an exciting milestone with the release of its first set of scientific data products from JAXA.

Aimed at unveiling the complex roles of clouds and aerosols in Earth’s climate system, EarthCARE is helping to reduce uncertainties in climate change prediction through advanced satellite observations.

Developed and distributed by JAXA, these newly released products provide the scientific community with high-quality data critical for atmospheric research and environmental monitoring.

Learn more about the EarthCARE JAXA L2 Products collection.


Published Products:

ATL_CLA_2A - Cloud and aerosol product: includes parameters such as aerosol and cloud feature coefficients, planetary boundary layer height, and more.
CPR_ECO_2A - Echo product: features key radar parameters like Gas Correction Factor, Integrated Reflectivity, and Doppler Velocity.
CPR_CLP_2A - Cloud radar product: provides detailed data on cloud mask, particle type, optical thickness, and related properties.
MSI_CLP_2A - Multispectral imager cloud product: includes information on cloud top properties and optical characteristics.
AC__CLP_2B - Synergistic cloud product: combines data from multiple instruments to estimate cloud mask, liquid water content, sedimentation velocity, optical thickness, and more.
These products mark a crucial step toward the operational use of EarthCARE data, supporting global-scale climate and weather research, and contributing to the development of advanced environmental prediction technologies.

With these data now publicly available, scientists worldwide gain access to a powerful new resource for improving climate models and enhancing our understanding of Earth's atmosphere.

EarthCARE continues its mission: to observe, to understand, to predict.

Evaluating EarthCARE retrievals using measured and model solar radiation [May 29]

An aim of the EarthCARE mission is to perform radiative closure assessments of cloud and aerosol properties, inferred using measurements from the EarthCARE instruments. This assessment is performed by comparing measured and modelled outgoing radiative energy emitted by Earth (thermal) as well as sunlight reflected by Earth (solar) with agreement being related to the accuracy of cloud and aerosol properties. This assessment is important as EarthCARE cloud, aerosol and radiation measurements are combined to understand processes that will be used to improve models of weather and climate, as well as understand changes, including Earth’s energy budget.

Radiative energy measurements are made using the Broadband Radiometer (BBR) on EarthCARE. The BBR infers outgoing top-of-atmosphere radiative fluxes (radiative energy in all directions) over a wide range of wavelengths using measurements of radiance (radiative energy in a narrow cone in a particular direction) in three views along the satellite track (forward, backward and straight down or nadir). Modelled radiances and fluxes are produced using 3D radiative transfer models applied to profiles of aerosols and clouds from EarthCARE.

This Image of the Month demonstrates measured and modelled solar fluxes and radiances. The upper plot shows measured (black) and modelled (red) fluxes for a section of an EarthCARE orbit over the Indian Ocean (frame 03600E, 15 January 2025). Each point is a mean value averaged over a 5 x 21 km area. The lower plot shows the radiances in the nadir direction. The measured and modelled values mostly agree well, suggesting that, for this stretch, the retrieved cloud and aerosol properties are accurate.

The two images show a scene spanning from dark ocean to thick bright clouds. The upper of the two images shows nadir radiances from the Level 1 BBR single pixel product (BBR_SNG_1B) for the highlighted part of the above plots. The lower image shows the corresponding values produced by the 3D radiative transfer model that operates on retrieved cloud and aerosol properties from the Level 2b ACM-CAP product (ACM_CAP_2B). Again, these images agree well, especially between +/-3 km across track. This shows that it is possible to use EarthCARE for radiative closure assessments, including extension to the pixel level, and it is performing well. This supports the objective of the EarthCARE mission to make global observations of clouds, aerosols and radiation.

[AndrewM]

Additional updates since May.

Using Arctic flight research to validate the EarthCARE data. Just a snip from the article.
COMPEX-EC: Snow white and seven flights for EarthCARE in the Arctic [June 17]

Earth’s clouds are still a bit of a mystery, especially in the unique climate of the Arctic.

The region is warming faster than anywhere else on Earth, and it’s important to understand the role that clouds and aerosols are playing in this very cloudy place, where aerosols and clouds interact in complex ways.

That’s one very important reason EarthCARE – The European Space Agency’s Earth Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer–  is flying high above us, equipped with four state-of-the-art instruments to help reveal the secrets still veiled in Arctic clouds.

But satellite data alone is not enough. We must validate EarthCARE’s measurements by flying right through the very atmosphere ESA’s cloud mission is looking down on.

In Spring 2025, the COMPEX-EC (Clouds over cOMPlEX environment – EarthCARE) campaign set off to do just that.

Over two weeks, seven flights, more than 30 flight hours, and quite a few displays of the northern lights, the campaign managed to fly directly underneath EarthCARE on multiple occasions from their snow-laden base in Kiruna, Sweden.

The team passed through some interesting weather along the way, including several cold-air outbreaks, during which cold air interacts with warmer air over the ocean, often forming impressive towers of clouds.

After evaluation, EarthCARE may now be operational for over 10 years which is a huge increase over the initial baseline of a 3-year prime mission. Just including a few snips from the article but there's some good information and plots that are worth checking out.

EarthCARE lifetime update: mission targets 2034 and beyond [July 28]

Originally foreseen as a three-year mission, plus an extra year for commissioning, EarthCARE was planned to complete operations in 2028. This short lifetime resulted from its relatively low altitude of 393 km, chosen to maximise the sensitivity of its radar and lidar instruments while balancing atmospheric drag.

However, a recent analysis of available fuel suggests that the satellite could remain operational for at least 10 years, even without raising its orbit. This would extend the mission lifetime to 2034 and possibly beyond.

Importantly, the decision from ESA to launch EarthCARE into a slightly higher orbit than first planned combined with the accuracy of the launch, meant that practically no fuel was required for orbit acquisition.

In fact, while about 40 kg of fuel was originally allocated for orbit acquisition alone, since the beginning of the mission only 30 kg of fuel have been expended in total, mostly on thruster testing and one full year of drag compensation under relatively high solar activity conditions.

The analysis, set out in the figure below, shows that EarthCARE’s available fuel will last until 2034 – and even far beyond this date – depending on the intensity of solar activity in the coming years.

ATLID is pressurised to prevent contamination, and the rate at which the pressure is dropping suggests a lifespan of at least 15 years. CPR is expected to last until at least 2030, but experts have reason to believe it will last well beyond this date, based on the longevity of the radar on the CloudSat satellite.

There is less certainty about the lifespan of BBR, due to its moving parts. BBR’s fast-rotating “chopper drum” cycles through several external views plus internal calibration targets. The longevity and tolerance of this system is hard to predict, but teams are exploring intermittent operations to prolong its use.

The re-evaluation of EarthCARE’s available fuel is an exciting development, but the mission will still follow the same extension procedure as all other ESA Earth observation missions, which includes applying for an extension for each three-year funding cycle of the FutureEO programme.

https://twitter.com/esa_earthcare/status/1965006910379130916 [Sep. 8]

We're back in the sky for EarthCARE!

Here, ESA's Jonas Von Bismarck joins the NightBLUE campaign team as they fly over the Caribbean, targeting EarthCARE orbits and - as there was some dust about - plumes of aerosols, which you can see here on the monitor 🛰️📊🏜️

NightBLUE is one of three campaigns happening this autumn to calibrate and validate EarthCARE data.

We've also got a team flying in New Zealand, and another in the Arctic!

https://twitter.com/esa_earthcare/status/1965523331270193569 [Sep. 9]

The race is on for the 100th underflight of EarthCARE! ✈️🏁

The NightBLUE team finished the 99th tonight, a successful third of the campaign so far, which leaves a race between them and HALO - another team down in New Zealand - for the big 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ Stay tuned 🍿

https://twitter.com/esa_earthcare/status/1965676441489842549 [Sep. 10]

🥁

Well, things didn't quite go to plan in New Zealand...

...which means...

Congratulations to NightBLUE on the 100th underflight of EarthCARE! 🏆

[AndrewM]

Some additional updates. I just included some snips from each article.

Ground segment partnership key to EarthCARE success [Sep. 16]

A little more than a year after launch, the rich stream of data flowing from EarthCARE is already helping scientists unravel the complex interplay between clouds, aerosols and climate. To make this possible, the satellite relies on a sophisticated ground segment led by the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with several partners. This infrastructure enables spacecraft operations, communication links, and the flow of data from orbit to scientists worldwide.

An important contributor to this effort is the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), responsible for launcher tracking, launch and early orbit communications, on-orbit connectivity, re-orbit operations, and data reception – as well as future de-orbit manoeuvres. Using two of its high-latitude ground stations, SSC downlinks gigabytes of EarthCARE observations every day, enabling dissemination of invaluable data to the scientific community.

EarthCARE reveals how atmospheric ripples boost cloud formation over Antarctica [Sep. 17]

Thanks to EarthCARE's cloud profiling radar (CPR) we can see and measure gravity waves in clouds for the very first time from space—while synergy with the atmospheric lidar (ATLID) allows us to study their direct effects on weather through enhanced ice cloud formation.

On 7 August 2025, the European Space Agency's EarthCARE satellite observed a large-scale cloud over West Antarctica that highlights its unique potential to measure vertical air motion in clouds, including those induced by gravity waves. In the first image we see how each of EarthCARE's instruments highlights a different, unusual aspect of the cloud.

https://twitter.com/esa_earthcare/status/1972964322549891078 [Sep. 30]

Here's a great look at EarthCARE's direct pass over the eye of Humberto! 🌀👁️🎯

The vertical profile shows cloud profiling radar measurements over the multispectral imager swath.

See how the reflectivity signal drops over the eye!

📸 Lorenzo Di Ciolo & Alessandro Piro
@ESA_EO

Lastly, a couple papers that were in preprint:
Evaluation of the EarthCARE Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) Doppler velocity measurements using surface-based observations [June 18]
Exploring vertical motions in convective and stratiform precipitation using spaceborne radar observations: Insights from EarthCARE and GPM coincidence dataset [Aug. 14]

[StraumliBlight]

Fixing EarthCARE’s radar interruptions [Dec 16]

Solar flares appear to be linked to occasional shutdowns in EarthCARE’s Cloud Profiling Radar, halting cloud observations for about 20 hours on average. Teams at ESA and JAXA have now introduced a software update that brings observations back within roughly 20 minutes.

CPR in action

Launched in 2024, the ESA-JAXA Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) mission carries four instruments and gathers new data on clouds, aerosols, and radiation.

One of its key instruments, the Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR), measures vertical cloud profiles by emitting microwave pulses that penetrate deep into lower cloud layers, capturing information that optical instruments cannot detect. It uses a High-Power Transmitter (HPT) that amplifies and supplies the 94 GHz radar pulses to the CPR antenna. The HPT relies on a Klystron – a vacuum tube that amplifies the source signals to the power needed for cloud profiling.

The problem at the heart of the CPR

Throughout 2024 and early 2025, mission scientists began to notice that floating atoms inside the Klystron could cause overcurrent events as normal behaviour. The High-Power Transmitter restarts itself when events like these happen, and radar pulse transmission usually returns within a few minutes. If a second overcurrent event strikes again during this short recovery phase, however, the CPR shifts to standby-refuse mode for safety, which then requires manual intervention from ground teams. This is where delays start to be built.

Whenever standby-refuse mode is activated, ground teams must run health checks on the instrument before restarting observations. Depending on when the blip occurs – especially outside ground station working hours – waiting times can stretch, and recovery usually takes about 20 hours, sometimes up to 72 hours during the weekend, before the CPR returns to normal operations.

One of its key instruments, the Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR), measures vertical cloud profiles by emitting microwave pulses that penetrate deep into lower cloud layers, capturing information that optical instruments cannot detect. It uses a High-Power Transmitter (HPT) that amplifies and supplies the 94 GHz radar pulses to the CPR antenna. The HPT relies on a Klystron – a vacuum tube that amplifies the source signals to the power needed for cloud profiling.

Preventing standby mode

To tackle the issue, JAXA installed an auxiliary auto-restart function in the CPR onboard software in June 2025. The new function detects when the HPT auto-restart could not work well and attempts to restart the HPT before it transitions to standby-refuse mode. This update reduced the number of times the instrument goes into standby-refuse mode, thereby cutting the recovery time dramatically and bringing the average restart interval down to about 20 minutes.

“These results highlight how crucial it is that we build systems that adjust to unpredictable space environments,” said Kenta Maruyama, project manager of EarthCARE/CPR project team, from JAXA. “These in-orbit software updates are helping us keep EarthCARE’s observations running.”

Although the team never carried out dedicated studies to pinpoint the cause of the overcurrent events, they observed a strong correlation between these and solar flares. This led them to suspect that high-energy protons from solar flares penetrate the Klystron tube, raising the risk of overcurrent and leading to standby mode.

Since the installation of the new software, EarthCARE’s team has seen that the HPT does not go into standby mode as often. The team’s approach to updating EarthCARE’s onboard software ensured the mission continues to deliver quality data on clouds to the users counting on it.

“Software flexibility is not just a convenience, it’s a necessity for resilience in orbit,” Kenta concluded.