Envisat Is Launched

Dr. Merkwürdigliebe writes: "Envisat, also called "The Green Eye", was successfully launched from Kourou in French Guyana by an Ariane 5 rocket. At a hefty 8 tons and 10 meters in lenght, it's ESA's biggest launch yet. The satellite, financed by Europe's ESA members and Canada, carries 10 very sensitive instruments for monitoring the Earth's climate and once deployed should provide scientists with more detailed and much needed data on the general health of the planet, which could prove critical in better understanding of various environmental issues, such as pollution, climate change, ozone-damage, etc."

Comments

Re:not all members

[Dr. Merkw�rdigliebe]

You're right, ESA has 15 European members, but only 13 have contributed to Envisat (the 14th contributor being Canada). Since Portugal joined only last year and Envisat started in the late eighties, it's obvious why they didn't chip in, but I don't know why Ireland didn't. Though not a founding member, they got involved very shortly afterwards and would have been able to participate. Maybe they felt they couldn't contribute in a meaningful way?