ERS-1 was the first of a new generation of space missions planned for the 1990s and the next millennium. Far exceeding its nominal 3-year lifetime, ERS-1 operated successfully until March 2000. 45,000 orbits were recorded through the ground station network, and, among other ERS-1 products, over 1,5 million images from its synthetic aperture radar (SAR) were delivered to more than 4,000 users in 130 countries.

In April 1995 ESA launched ERS-2 to ensure continuity in monitoring the Earth's environment. The ERS-2 improved payload encompasses an additional instrument, GOME, to respond to increased concern about the depletion of atmospheric ozone (the well known "ozone hole" problem) and the greenhouse effect caused by atmospheric trace gases ("global warming"). ERS-2 operations have to date provided more than 800,000 products acquired worldwide.

The ERS mission was born initially as an oceanographic programme (monitoring of winds, waves, currents, sea surface temperature and height, sea ice, and the provision of sea surface winds to operational met. services within 3 hours of acquisition). Over 1800 scientific investigations and application projects during the last 10 years have resulted in similarly outstanding achievements in all other environmental disciplines such as disaster management (floods, storms, landslides, subsidence monitoring, volcano and fire monitoring), geology, forestry and agriculture, atmospheric chemistry, climatology, polar ice monitoring as well as natural oil pollution and seepage and coastal zone phenomena .

One of the highlights of the ERS mission were the ERS-1 and ERS-2 tandem acquisition campaigns. The key campaign lasted from October 1995 to April 1996, with parallel operation of both satellites with acquisitions with a 1-day offset. This mode of operating the synthetic aperture radar instruments of both satellites established the basis for a new technique in SAR data processing called interferometry. This technique allows the generation of digital elevation models accurate to within a few meters, the monitoring of surface elevation changes (volcanoes, earthquakes, and subsidence) in the millimetre ranges as well as vegetation mapping.

The ERS mission plays a major role also in the ''Charter on Space and Major Disasters'', a far-reaching agreement between ESA, the French National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), and the Canadian Space Agency. The charter is open to other space agencies and national institutions to promote cooperation by space system operators in the event of natural or technological disasters.

ESA continues to offer its ERS data for scientific use and distributes the data for any other use through its partners EMMA (EURIMAGE and others) and SARCOM (SPOTIMAGE and others).

For further information

Simonetta Cheli

Head of Public and Institutional Relations

ESA-ESRIN

Ph. + 39.06.94.18.03.50

Fax + 39.06.94.18.03.52

Gunther Kohlhammer

Head of Mission Management Office

ESA-ESRIN

Ph.+ 39 06.94.18.03.60

Fax + 39. 06.94.18.03.62