A series of images which relate to ESA's ERS-1 remote sensing satellite, lscheduled to be launched on May 3rd 1991. Including: general animation sequences of ERS-1; the satellite's near polar orbit; launch, stage separations and ground station tracking; critical deployment seqeunces; SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) reveals deforestation in the Amazon; cartographic applications; water temperature, including Chernobyl; use of the ATSR (Along Track Scanning Radiometer); ERS-1's Wind Scatterometer; monitoring sea and ice levels with the Radar Altimeter; the global network of ground stations; ESRIN data processing centre; environmental knowledge gained through ERS-1; melting ice caps; the exchange of energy between sea and the atmosphere; satellite construction; and a quick guide to the instruments onboard ERS-1.

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00:02:27:00 ESA opening sequence
00:02:47:00 title sequence: ERS-1 European Remote-Sensing Satellite
00:03:02:00 copyright statement
00:03:11:00 animations: ERS is the first European Remote-Sensing Satellite. It has been designed to make a major contribution to the study of the Earth and its environment
00:04:18:00 animations: ERS-1 will work in a near polar orbit, 785kms (480 miles) above the Earth. In 3 days, or every 43 orbits, it will scan the entire planet
00:05:23:20 animation: ERS-1 will be launched by an Ariane 4 from Kourou, in French Guiana on the 3rd May, 1991. This animation shows the launch, stage separations and ground station tracking
00:06:42:00 animation: after separation from Ariane 4, ERS-1 will execute a number of critical deployment sequences in order to place the spacecraft in the correct position, open the solar arrays and the instruments
00:07:50:00 animation/images: the synthetic aperture radar, SAR, scans a strip of the Earth 100 kms in width, to a resolution of 20 metr