The EarthCARE orbiter, the result of collaboration between the European Space Agency and Japan's JAXA space agency, launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg air base at 3:20 pm local time .'The holddown clamps have released Falcon 9 and we have begun our flight,' ESA said on its web site.The two-tonne satellite will orbit nearly 400 kilometers above Earth for three years.
Higher up, cirrus clouds made of ice crystals allow solar radiation to pass through, heating up our world.Cirrus clouds then trap in the heat like a blanket, Gillieron said.Parasol or blanket? Understanding the nature of clouds has become essential, said Simonetta Cheli, head of the ESA's Earth observation programs.EarthCARE will become the first satellite to measure both the vertical and horizontal distribution of clouds, she told a press conference.