The talk presented to the Cirencester Science & Technology Society by Dr Nigel Wright, Recently Retired Programme Manager at Thales Alenia Space UK, on the subject of the EarthCARE mission.

ESA's EarthCARE (Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer) mission launched on 28 May 2024 is the largest and most complex Earth Explorer to date, and will advance our understanding of the role that clouds and aerosols play in reflecting incident solar radiation back into space and trapping infrared radiation emitted from Earth's surface.

EarthCARE employs high-performance lidar and radar technology that has never been flown in space before, with the objective to deliver unprecedented datasets to allow scientists to study the relationship of clouds, aerosols and radiation at accuracy levels that will significantly improve our understanding of these highly variable parameters.