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INSTRUMENTS
Explore the many instruments the European Space Agency use to observe the Earth. ESA offer data from a wide range of optical, radar, atmospheric, altimetric and gravimetric instrumentation.
Instrument - Imaging Spectrometers/Radiometers
ATSR
The Along Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR) on board ERS-1 and ERS-2 mission consisted of two instruments, an Infra-Red Radiometer and a Microwave Sounder.
Instrument - Positioning/Navigation
PRARE
The Precise Range And Range-Rate Equipment (PRARE) was a microwave tracking system on board the ERS-1 and ERS-2 missions.
Instrument - Laser Ranging
LRR ERS
The Laser Retro-Reflector (LRR), on board the ERS-1 and ERS-2 missions, was an optical device for accurate satellite tracking from the ground to support instrument data evaluation.
Instrument - Scatterometers
SAR (ERS)
The Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instrument aboard ERS-1 and ERS-2 was capable of high precision change detection of surface heights.
Instrument - Imaging Spectrometers/Radiometers
MWR (ERS)
The microwave radiometer (MWR) instrument on board the ERS-1 and ERS-2 missions provided measurements of the integrated atmospheric water vapour column and cloud liquid water content.
Instrument - Scatterometers
WS
The Wind Scatterometer (WS) instrument, on board the ERS-1 and ERS-2 missions, obtained information on wind speed and direction over the sea surface.
Instrument - Radar Altimeters
RA (ERS)
The Radar Altimeter (RA) was a Ku-band (13.8 GHz) nadir-pointing active microwave sensor, on board ERS-1 and ERS-2 missions, designed to measure echoes from ocean and ice surfaces.
Instrument - Imaging Spectrometers/Radiometers
Thematic Mapper (TM)
The Thematic Mapper (TM) was a multispectral scanning radiometer on board Landsat-4 and Landsat-5.
Instrument - Spectrometers/Radiometers
Return-Beam Vidicon (RBV)
The Return-Beam Vidicon (RBV) instrument was flown onboard the Landsat-1 to 3 satellites.
Instrument - Imaging Spectrometers/Radiometers
Multi Spectral Scanner (MSS)
The Multi Spectral Scanner (MSS) instrument was carried aboard the Landsat-1 to 5 satellites.
Instrument - Imaging Spectrometers/Radiometers
Vegetation (VGT)
The main PROBA-V payload is the Vegetation sensor (VGT): a multispectral pushbroom spectrometer.
Instrument - Laser Ranging
LRR (Envisat)
The LRR instrument aboard Envisat was used to accurately determine the orbital height of the satellite.
Instrument - Radar Altimeters
STR (Swarm)
The Swarm Star Trackers retrieve information on the precise satellite orientation and attitude.
Instrument - Accelerometers
ACC (Swarm)
The Accelerometer measures the Swarm satellite’s non-gravitational acceleration in its respective orbit.
Instrument - GPS
GPSR and LRR (Swarm)
Each Swarm satellite is equipped with a Laser Retro-Reflector for external calibration and validation of the on-board GPS receiver.
Instrument - GPS
SSTI
SSTI was a state-of-the-art GPS receiver on GOCE that was designed to operate in a low-Earth orbit.
Instrument - Imaging Spectrometers/Radiometers
Thermal Infra-Red Sensor (TIRS)
TIRS on Landsat-8 mission is a thermal imager that supplements observations from the OLI (Operational Land Imager) instrument.
Instrument - Spectrometers
SCIAMACHY
SCIAMACHY was an instrument on board the Envisat satellite that measured atmospheric chemistry.
Instrument - Radar Altimeters
RA-2
The RA-2 instrument aboard Envisat acquired radar altimetry data over ocean, land and ice surfaces.
