Early in the morning of March 1st, 2002, the biggest Earth-observation satellite in history, Envisat, blasted off from the European Space Port in Kourou, French Guiana. This eight-ton satellite has now doubled its planned operational time, completing over 50,000 earth orbits.

Thanks to its ten onboard radar and optical sensors, including ASAR (Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar) and MERIS (Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer), Envisat continually observes and monitors the Earth’s surface, the atmosphere, the oceans and icefields. Over the last decade, more than 2000 scientific articles based on its results have been published.

GMV played a significant role in Envisat, participating in the development of the satellite’s flight segment and in various projects for the ground station data-processing center. GMV designed and developed the control software of the MERIS instrument. MERIS has been providing images of the Earth and its atmosphere with a high degree of spatial and spectral accuracy. These images are fundamental in the definition of a variety of geophysical parameters.

Envisat has provided Earth Observation data to the scientific community, as well as operational results based upon its data, such as maps showing the evolution of marine ice or oil spills. After 10 years of service, this satellite provides crucial information on our planet, and will continue to do so at least until the next generation of satellites – the Sentinel satellites – becomes fully operational in 2013.

The Sentinel missions are being carried out as part of the European GMES program (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), where GMV is working on various projects for both the ground and the space segments.