Aspects of the EarthCARE satellite and its payload

EarthCARE is ESA's Earth Clouds Aerosols and Radiation Explorer and is a joint mission in collaboration with JAXA. The satellite will carry a suite of instruments which operate in synergy to provide simultaneous observations of clouds and aerosols and will lead to improved understanding and modelling of these factors as well as their role in climatology. Development of the four instrument payload, consisting of an Atmospheric Lidar (ATLID), a Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR), a Multi Spectral Imager (MSI) and a Broad Band Radiometer (BBR) has been continuing for some time now and all instruments have progressed beyond the preliminary design stage. The paper will describe the mission, the satellite and in particular the principles, performance and design evolution of the payload.