The Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) mission was selected by ESA's Programme Board for Earth Observation for implementation as the sixth Earth Explorer Mission. The mission will be implemented in cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), which will provide one of the payload instruments, the radar. EarthCARE is schedule to be launched in 2012.

EarthCARE embarks four instruments. The synergistic use of radar, lidar and imager observations will enable three-dimensional global retrievals of clouds and aerosols. Furthermore, a broad-band radiometer will make collocated measurements of short-wave and long-wave TOA radiances and fluxes in order to study the relation between clouds, aerosols and radiation. The radar will furthermore have the capability to observe vertical motions in clouds using Doppler measurements, and the lidar will have high spectral resolution so that the molecular return can be separated from the cloud/aerosol signal.

With the launch of the A-Train missions CloudSAT and CALIPSO, space-borne radar and lidar measurements with similarity to EarthCARE have become available. They will provide invaluable experiences and insights.