The PICARD Scientific Mission: status of the program

PICARD is an investigation dedicated to the simultaneous measurement of the absolute total and spectral solar irradiance, the diameter and solar shape, and to the Sun's interior probing by the helioseismology method. The spacecraft was successfully launched into a Sun-synchronous dawn-dusk orbit on 15 June 2010 by a DNEPR-1 launcher for a life expectancy of 2 years; its operational mission ended in March, 2014.The payload consists of the SODISM imager (SOlar Diameter Imager and Surface Mapper) and of two radiometers, SOVAP (SOlar VAriability PICARD) and PREMOS (PREcision MOnitoring Sensor), which measure Total Solar Irradiance. Filter radiometers on PREMOS monitor the Solar Spectral Irradiance in six selected bands in the near UV, visible, and near IR wavelength regions. The SODISM telescope monitors continuously solar activity from the middle ultraviolet (UV) to the near infrared (IR) spectral domains.We shall give an overview of the mission, as well as the behaviour of the instruments in orbit, and the scientific results.