Envisat

Envisat

Model of Envisat
Mission type	Earth observation
Operator	ESA
COSPAR ID	2002-009A
SATCAT no.	27386
Website	envisat.esa.int
Mission duration	Planned: 5 years Final: 10 years, 1 month, 6 days
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer	Astrium
Launch mass	8,211 kg (18,102 lb)
Dimensions	26 × 10 × 5 m (85 × 33 × 16 ft)
Power	6,500 watts
Start of mission
Launch date	1 March 2002, 01:07:59 (2002-03-01UTC01:07:59Z) UTC
Rocket	Ariane 5G V-145
Launch site	Kourou ELA-3
Contractor	Arianespace
End of mission
Disposal	None
Declared	9 May 2012 (2012-05-10)
Last contact	8 April 2012 (2012-04-09) (spacecraft failure)
Decay date	~150 years
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Polar low Earth
Semi-major axis	7,144.9 km (4,439.6 mi)
Eccentricity	0.00042
Perigee altitude	772 km (480 mi)
Apogee altitude	774 km (481 mi)
Inclination	98.40 degrees
Period	100.16 minutes
Repeat interval	35 days
Epoch	15 December 2013, 03:07:00 UTC[1]
Instruments
ASAR RA-2 MWR MIPAS MERIS AATSR DORIS GOMOS SCIAMACHY

Envisat ("Environmental Satellite") is a large Earth-observing satellite which has been inactive since 2012. It is still in orbit and considered space debris. Operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), it was the world's largest civilian Earth observation satellite.^[2]

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.^[3]

Envisat cost 2.3 billion Euro (including 300 million Euro for 5 years of operations) to develop and launch.^[4] The mission has been replaced by the Sentinel series of satellites.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.