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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 - MAGNETOMETERS
VFM
The Vector Field Magnetometer (VFM) is the primary instrument carried aboard the Swarm satellites.
Instrument - Radar Altimeters
STR (Swarm)
The Swarm Star Trackers retrieve information on the precise satellite orientation and attitude.
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 - Spectrometers
SCIAMACHY
SCIAMACHY was an instrument on board the Envisat satellite that measured atmospheric chemistry.
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 - 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 - Interferometers
MIPAS
MIPAS was an atmospheric instrument carried aboard the Envisat satellite.
Instrument - Imaging Spectrometers/Radiometers
MERIS
The MERIS instrument aboard Envisat was primarily dedicated to providing ocean colour measurements.
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 - Spectrometers
GOMOS
GOMOS is a medium resolution spectrometer covering the wavelength range from 250 nm to 950 nm.
Instrument - Accelerometers
EGG
The main objective of GOCE's EGG was to measure the three components of the Gravity-Gradient Tensor.
Instrument - Magnetic Field/Electric Field Instruments
EFI
The Electric Field Instrument (EFI) aboard the Swarm satellites is the first 3D ionospheric imager in space.
Instrument - MAGNETOMETERS
ASM
The Absolute Scalar Magnetometer on the Swarm satellites measures the strength of the magnetic field.
Instrument - Imaging Radars
ASAR
ASAR ensures continuity with the image mode (SAR) and the wave mode of the ERS-1/2 AMI.
Instrument - Accelerometers
ACC (Swarm)
The Accelerometer measures the Swarm satellite’s non-gravitational acceleration in its respective orbit.