ESA’s wind mission Aeolus successfully launched
The Aeolus spacecraft has been launched today by a Vega rocket. Separation was successful at 0:30. The satellite shall provide profiles of wind, aerosols and clouds from a altitude of around 320 km. It carries a Doppler wind lidar called Aladin – the first wind lidar in space.
“The laser system emits short pulses of ultraviolet light (frequence 355 nm) down into the atmosphere. The telescope collects the light that is backscattered from air molecules, particles of duct and droplets of water. The receiver analyses the Doppler shift of the backscattered signal to determine the wind speed at various altitudes below the satellite.”
The mission is controlled by the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt.
https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Aeolus/Introducing_Aeolus