Europe signs Earth observer deal

[Rick]

The European Space Agency (Esa) has ordered the latest spacecraft in a major global monitoring programme.

The agency signed the £240m (305m-euro) contract with industrial partner Thales Alenia Space on Monday to provide the Sentinel-3 Earth observation satellite.

There are plans to launch five Sentinel spacecraft to track changes in the land, oceans, weather and climate.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7347028.stm