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Envisat

Envisat
Envisatmod.jpg
Model of Envisat
Mission type Earth observation
Operator ESA
COSPAR ID 2002-009A
SATCAT № 27386
Website envisat.esa.int
Mission duration Planned: 5 years
Final: 10 years, 1 month, 6 days
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer Astrium
Launch mass 8,211 kg (18,102 lb)
Dimensions 2.5 × 2.5 × 10 m (8.2 × 8.2 × 32.8 ft)
Power 6,500 watts
Start of mission
Launch date 1 March 2002, 01:07:59 (2002-03-01UTC01:07:59Z) UTC
Rocket Ariane 5G V-145
Launch site Kourou ELA-3
Contractor Arianespace
End of mission
Disposal Spacecraft failure
Last contact 8 April 2012 (2012-04-09)
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Polar low Earth
Semi-major axis 7,144.9 km (4,439.6 mi)
Eccentricity 0.00042
Perigee 772 km (480 mi)
Apogee 774 km (481 mi)
Inclination 98.40 degrees
Period 100.16 minutes
Repeat interval 35 days
Epoch 15 December 2013, 03:07:00 UTC
Instruments

Envisat ("Environmental Satellite") is a large inactive Earth-observing satellite which is still in orbit. Operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), it was the world's largest civilian Earth observation satellite.

It was launched on 1 March 2002 aboard an Ariane 5 from the Guyana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, into a Sun synchronous polar orbit at an altitude of 790 km (490 mi) (± 10 km (6.2 mi)). It orbits the Earth in about 101 minutes, with a repeat cycle of 35 days. After losing contact with the satellite on 8 April 2012, ESA formally announced the end of Envisat's mission on 9 May 2012.

Envisat cost €2.3 billion (including €300 million for 5 years of operations) to develop and launch. The mission is due to be replaced by the Sentinel series of satellites. The first of these, Sentinel 1, has taken over the radar duties of Envisat since its launch in 2014.

Envisat was launched as an Earth observation satellite. Its objective was to service the continuity of European Remote-Sensing Satellite missions, providing additional observational parameters to improve environmental studies.

In working towards the global and regional objectives of the mission, numerous scientific disciplines currently use the data acquired from the different sensors on the satellite, to study such things as atmospheric chemistry, ozone depletion, biological oceanography, ocean temperature and colour, wind waves, hydrology (humidity, floods), agriculture and arboriculture, natural hazards, digital elevation modelling (using interferometry), monitoring of maritime traffic, atmospheric dispersion modelling (pollution), cartography and study of snow and ice.


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