Envisat (Environmental Satellite)'s an Earth-observing satellite built by the European Space Agency. It was launched on the 1st March 2002 aboard an Ariane 5 into a Sun synchronous polar orbit at a height of 790 km (±10 km). It orbits the Earth in about 101 minutes with a repeat cycle of 35 days. It's the largest European satellite to date (late 2006), with total mass 8211 kg. Envisat carries an array of nine Earth-observation instruments that gather information about the earth (land, wate… (More on Envisat)