ESA Living Planet EarthCARE Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI)

2009 - 2012

Project overview

EarthCARE is ESA's Clouds Aerosols and Radiation Explorer mission. It is a joint mission in collaboration with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency. The satellite will carry a payload of four instruments of which MSI is one. The four instruments will operate synergistically with the aim of providing a better understanding of clouds and aerosols and their impact on Earth's climatology. An important feature of the mission is that its instruments will make, for the first time, near simultaneous measurements of the same cloud/aerosol scene. The MSI instrument is a 7-band downward looking scanner with a complex optical system which is being designed to provide images of clouds and data on cloud types, texture and temperature distribution. Infrared filters, beamsplitters and antireflection lenses will be employed in the instrument to define and isolate the wavelength bands of interest which are key components to the instrument performance.

The University of Reading are responsible for the spectral design and fabrication of the thermal infrared camera filters, dichroic beamsplitter filters and dielectric reflectors.

Delivered hardware

Description	Filter Type	Quantity	Wavelength Region	Substrate Material	Dimensions
TIR Camera Filters	Narrow Bandpass Filters	3 channels	8 - 13 µm	Zinc Selenide (ZnSe)	80 mm L x 10 mm W x 4 mm T
TIR Camera Dichroics	Longwave-pass edge filters	2 channels	8 - 13 µm	Zinc Selenide (ZnSe)	120 mm L x 10 mm W x 4 mm T
TIR Camera Mirrors	Dielectric reflector	4 channels	8 - 13 µm	Zinc Selenide (ZnSe)	120 mm L x 10 mm W x 4 mm T

Partners

Surrey Satellite Technology Limited

Publications

G J Hawkins, D Woods, R E Sherwood, K Djotni : "Infrared optical coatings for the EarthCARE Multispectral Imager", Applied Optics, Vol. 53, Issue 27, pp. 6983-6992 (2014)

Further information

Related news

ESA's cloud, aerosol and radiation mission - November 7, 2011
Europe's Earthcare space laser mission gets go ahead - February 18, 2011
EarthCARE MSI moves ahead - June 7, 2011
New imager will help climate modelling - May 28, 2008
EarthCARE satellite contract signed - May 27, 2008