The EarthCARE mission aims to study the link between clouds, aerosols and radiation and is a joint venture between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The mission was launched at the end of May 2024 and carries a high-performance UV Atmospheric Lidar (ATLID), a Cloud Profiling doppler Radar (CPR, provided by JAXA), a Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) and a Broad-Band Radiometer (BBR). All four instruments are working in synergy to monitor clouds and aerosols, and their role in regulating the climate. The EarthCARE mission is by far the largest, most complex mission of the ESA FutureEO programme.
The EarthCARE DISC aims to ensure that the EarthCARE data products delivered to the end-users are of the highest quality. It is also responsible for maintaining and improving the data processing algorithms to best meet evolving user needs.
Telespazio UK is supporting this exciting project, involving 16 partners from nine different countries, through its various roles. These include the Service Management, leading the offline instrument calibration through the Instrument Calibration Monitoring Facility (ICMF), data quality control and monitoring, user support, and project outreach and communication tasks. These activities are conducted by a dedicated and skilled team of ten colleagues, experienced in Earth Observation (EO) data product quality and calibration from operational and heritage missions.
During January 2025, the EarthCARE DISC successfully supported the release of the Level 1 data products to the public. In March, the release of the single-sensor Level 2a and two-sensor Level 2b products resulted in the EarthCARE DISC project passing its first Public Release Review with flying colours. ESA has expressed its strong satisfaction with the composition of the EarthCARE DISC project and commended the progress accomplished to date.
Kajal Haria, Telespazio’s Earth Observation Consultant and the EarthCARE DISC Service Manager, said: “Within just 10 months of the mission lifetime, 26 out of 33 product outputs of the EarthCARE satellite have been released publicly. 19 of them were released in March 2025, after the mission operations were handed over to the DISC team in January 2025. PRR-1 is a very significant milestone for the team, primarily because of the monumental amount of effort undertaken behind the scenes in delivering the processors to meet the product release schedule, but also in ensuring that the routine operations of the mission continued seamlessly – all thanks to the dedication of DISC team members and the valuable support from ESA. Many lessons have been learnt along the way and the year ahead continues to be a busy and exciting one for the team!”