Munich Airport hosted a Ukraine-registered Antonov An-124 to fly the European Space Agency (ESA)’s EarthCare climate-monitoring satellite to its launch site in Vandenberg, California in early March.
EarthCare (Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation Explorer) has been built by European aerospace consortium Airbus and is a joint project between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). It will investigate the role played by clouds and aerosols in reflecting solar radiation into space and in capturing infrared radiation emitted by the Earth’s surface. Launch is scheduled for May.