Falcon 9 launches for the European Space Agency’s EarthCARE mission

WASHINGTON — A Falcon 9 successfully launched an Earth science mission to Europe and Japan on May 28 as part of the European Space Agency’s continued, if temporary, reliance on SpaceX for space access.

The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 6:20 p.m. ET. The payload, the Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) spacecraft, separated from the upper stage about 10 minutes after liftoff.

Simonetta Celli, director of Earth observation programs at the European Space Agency, said in an interview after the launch that observers were in contact with the spacecraft. “It’s all in my name and on the right track.”

Spacecraft controllers will spend the coming weeks and months checking and calibrating the spacecraft’s instruments, she said. This will allow for the first release of scientific data from EarthCARE at the end of this year or early next year.

EarthCARE is an ESA-led, €800 million ($870 million) mission to study clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere. The spacecraft carries four instruments, including a cloud profiling radar provided by the Japanese space agency JAXA at ​​a cost of 8.3 billion yen ($53 million). The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency named the spacecraft Hakuryu, or “white dragon,” because of its exterior.

The 2,200-kg spacecraft, flying in a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 393 km, will collect data on clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere, along with images and measurements of reflected sunlight and radiated heat. This information will be used in atmospheric science, including climate and weather models.

“EarthCARE exists to study the effect of clouds and aerosols on the Earth’s thermal balance,” Dirk Bernerts, ESA’s EarthCARE project manager, said in a press conference ahead of the May 21 launch. Same location at the same time. “This is what distinguishes this spacecraft.”

Other spacecraft are making similar measurements, including NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem (PACE) spacecraft, which launched in February. “Monitoring techniques are different,” he said. “We’re observing the same thing but slightly different aspects of clouds and aerosols.” He added that EarthCARE will use PACE data to help calibrate and validate its observations.

EarthCARE took about two decades to develop and resulted in a cost growth of 30%. Maximilian Sauer, EarthCARE project manager at prime contractor Airbus, said several factors contributed to the delays and overruns, including technical issues with instruments as well as the effects of the pandemic.

Chile said in a post-launch interview that one of the lessons learned from EarthCARE was the need for “rigorous management” of the project, which she said was plagued by challenges coordinating work between agencies and companies. She added that the mission also stressed the importance of strong support from member states as they seek to overcome problems.

Another factor in delaying EarthCARE was the change in launch vehicles. EarthCARE was originally scheduled to be used aboard a Soyuz rocket, but the European Space Agency lost access to the vehicle after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The mission was first flown to Vega C in Europe, but ESA decided last June to launch it instead on a Falcon 9, citing delays in getting that rocket back into flight as well as modifications to the rocket’s payload that were necessary to accommodate EarthCARE.

Technically, shifting launch vehicles was not a major problem for the mission. “Throughout the changes to the launch pads, we haven’t had to change the design of the spacecraft,” Bernarts said.

He said that during the environmental tests, engineers subjected the spacecraft to conditions simulating different launch vehicles to prepare for the possibilities of changing vehicles. “From the moment we learned Soyuz was not available, we were looking at how rigorously the spacecraft could be tested to encapsulate other candidate launch pads. That’s what we did and it worked out in the end.”

EarthCARE is the second ESA-led mission to launch aboard Falcon 9, following the Euclid Space Telescope last July. A Falcon 9 rocket will launch ESA’s Hera asteroid mission this fall.

“We had a good experience with Euclid last year,” Joseph Aschbacher, ESA’s director general, said in an interview after the launch. “Our teams and SpaceX teams work very well together.”

The Falcon 9 is an interim period until the Ariane 6 enters service, with the first launch now scheduled for the first half of July, and the Vega C returning to flight at the end of the year. “I’m hearing a lot of questions about why we’re launching with Falcon and not Ariane, and it’s really good to see the inaugural Ariane 6 flight approaching,” he said.

Mission participants were simply happy to finally get the spacecraft into orbit. “There is a feeling of relief and happiness,” Chili said after the launch.

“It’s an emotional rollercoaster,” Thorsten Fehr, ESA’s EarthCARE mission scientist, said in the agency’s webcast shortly after the payload was separated. “This is one of the greatest moments of my career ever.”

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