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MERIS
MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) was one of the main instruments on board the European Space Agency (ESA)'s Envisat platform. The sensor was in orbit from 2002 to 2012. ESA formally announced the end of Envisat's mission on 9 May 2012. This instrument was composed of five cameras disposed side by side, each equipped with a pushbroom spectrometer. These spectrometers used two-dimensional CCDs. One of the sides of the detector was oriented perpendicular to the trajectory of the satellite and simultaneously collected, through the front optics, observations for a line of points at the Earth's surface (or in the atmosphere). The displacement of the platform along its orbit, combined with a short integration time, generated data that was later used to create two-dimensional images. A light dispersing system separated the various wavelengths (colors) composing the incoming radiation at the entrance of the instrument and directed these on the detector along the second dimen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Envisat
Envisat ("Environmental Satellite") is a large inactive Earth-observing satellite which is still in orbit and now considered space debris. 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 ± 10 km. 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 Euro (including 300 million Euro for 5 years of operations) to develop and launch. The mission has been replaced by the Sentinel series of satellites.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. Mission Envisat was launched as an Earth observation satellite. Its objective ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
