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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

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    VFM

    The Vector Field Magnetometer (VFM) is the primary instrument carried aboard the Swarm satellites.

  • Instrument - Radar Altimeters

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    STR (Swarm)

    The Swarm Star Trackers retrieve information on the precise satellite orientation and attitude.

  • Instrument - GPS

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    SSTI

    SSTI was a state-of-the-art GPS receiver on GOCE that was designed to operate in a low-Earth orbit.

  • Instrument - Spectrometers

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    SCIAMACHY

    SCIAMACHY was an instrument on board the Envisat satellite that measured atmospheric chemistry.

  • Instrument - Scatterometers

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    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

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    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

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    MIPAS

    MIPAS was an atmospheric instrument carried aboard the Envisat satellite.

  • Instrument - Imaging Spectrometers/Radiometers

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    MERIS

    The MERIS instrument aboard Envisat was primarily dedicated to providing ocean colour measurements.

  • Instrument - GPS

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    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

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    GOMOS

    GOMOS is a medium resolution spectrometer covering the wavelength range from 250 nm to 950 nm.

  • Instrument - Accelerometers

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    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

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    EFI

    The Electric Field Instrument (EFI) aboard the Swarm satellites is the first 3D ionospheric imager in space.

  • Instrument - MAGNETOMETERS

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    ASM

    The Absolute Scalar Magnetometer on the Swarm satellites measures the strength of the magnetic field.

  • Instrument - Imaging Radars

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    ASAR

    ASAR ensures continuity with the image mode (SAR) and the wave mode of the ERS-1/2 AMI.

  • Instrument - Accelerometers

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    ACC (Swarm)

    The Accelerometer measures the Swarm satellite’s non-gravitational acceleration in its respective orbit.

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