In the 1990s, the European Space Agency ESA launched two ERS (Earth Remote Sensing) satellites.
In July 1991 ESA’s first earth observation mission was launched into space with ERS-1. Its payload consisted of five instruments: AMI (Active Microwave Instrument), which provided the functions of an imaging synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and a wind scatterometer; RA (Radar Altimeter); MWR (Microwave Radiometer); ATSR (Along Track Scanning Radiometer); and PRARE (Precise Range and Range-rate Equipment). The ERS-1 mission ended on March 10, 2000 after more than 45,000 orbits.
….. More on ERS at the ESA Website