Oxfordshire scientists will cross their fingers at the launch of a space satellite to keep an eye on global warming and look for signs of earthquakes, volcanoes and floods.
The satellite is due to be launched on Friday from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.
The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, at Chilton, near Didcot, will help co-ordinate the use of the satellite data to inform scientists how the planet's climate is changing and the ozone layer depleting.
The satellite, Envisat, is the largest and most advanced earth observation satellite, and will circle the earth every 100 minutes.
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory completed early design work on one of the satellite's radio- meters and joined a consortium to build the instrument, which will measure sea temperature and study land surfaces.
RAL scientists and engineers also developed electronics for an instrument to measure air pressure, temperature, concentrations of ozone, water vapour and gases in the atmosphere.
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