ESA's Living Planet Programme     GOCE orbit is so low that it experiences drag from the outer edges of Earth's atmosphere. The satellite's streamline structure and use of electric propulsion system counteract atmospheric drag to ensure that the data are of true gravity.   SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity), an ESA Earth Explorer satellite, was launched into orbit from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia on Monday 2 November 2009.   ESA’s Earth Explorer CryoSat mission is dedicated to precise monitoring of changes in the thickness of marine ice floating in the polar oceans and variations in the thickness of the vast ice sheets that blanket Greenland and Antarctica.   Sentinel-1, the first Earth observation satellite to be built for Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security programme.   The MetOp series of three satellites is Europe's first polar-orbiting missions dedicated to operational meteorology and represents the European commitment to a new venture with the United States. They are launched sequentially, providing data until at least 2020. MetOp-A was launched on 19 October 2006 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on a Soyuz ST rocket with a Fregat upper stage. Last update: 13 September 2011