The main objective of the Envisat programme is to endow Europe with an enhanced capability for remote sensing observation of Earth from space, with the aim of further increasing the capacity of participating states to take part in the studying and monitoring of the Earth and its environment.

Its primary objectives are:

• to provide for continuity of the observations started with the ERS satellites, including those obtained from radar-based observations;
  
• to enhance the ERS mission, notably the ocean and ice mission;
  
• to extend the range of parameters observed to meet the need of increasing knowledge of the factors determining the environment;
  
• to make a significant contribution to environmental studies, notably in the area of atmospheric chemistry and ocean studies (including marine biology).
  

These are coupled with two linked secondary objectives:

• to allow more effective monitoring and management of the Earth's resources;
  
• to better understand solid Earth processes.
  

The mission intends to continue and improve upon measurements initiated by ERS-1 and ERS-2, and to take into account the requirements related to the global study and monitoring of the environment.

The mission is an essential element in providing long-term continuous data sets that are crucial for addressing environmental and climatological issues. It will at the same time further promote the gradual transfer of applications of remote sensing data from experimental to preoperational and operational exploitation.

Envisat, as an undertaking of ESA member states plus Canada, constitutes a major contribution to the international effort of space agencies worldwide to provide the data and information required to further the understanding, modeling, and prediction of environmental and climatic changes.

This mission includes both global and regional mission objectives (see below) with the corresponding need to provide data to scientific and applications (see below) users on various time scales.