The instrument is the enhanced successor to the highly successful scatterometers flown on ESA's ERS-1 and ERS-2 satellites. Its use of six antennas allows the simultaneous coverage of two swaths on either side of the satellite ground track and hence provides twice the information of the earlier instruments. On an experimental basis, ASCAT also provides measurements at a higher than nominal resolution.

In addition to wind measurements, ASCAT will also find roles in areas as diverse as land and sea ice monitoring, soil moisture, snow properties and soil thawing.

The instrument was developed under ESA/EUMETSAT contract by Astrium GmbH. Its wide range of hardware and software elements was produced by space companies in ten of the European Space Agency's member states.