Launched two weeks ago, the British satellite Aeolus turned on its laser and began to collect data on winds in the Earth's stratosphere.
The European Space Agency (ESA) launched the ADM-Aeolus satellite from the Kourou launch site in French Guiana on 23 August. This was a major event for scientists, as preparations for the mission took 16 years. Now the satellite is undergoing a three-month test period, upon its completion, specialists will begin to analyze the received wind data and draw up models and maps based on them.
Wind strongly affects the weather, while measuring its speed and direction in order to make an accurate forecast becomes difficult at an altitude of 11 kilometers. It is at this mark that the boundary of the stratosphere is formally located. Ground stations can no longer cope with observing the movement of winds in this layer of the atmosphere. Therefore, information about the nature of the movement of air masses on the entire planet is fragmentary and it is extremely difficult to form an integral picture.
Thus, the ADM-Aeolus satellite will perform the important task of collecting data on stratospheric winds at an altitude of up to 30 kilometers. Thanks to it, the accuracy of medium-range weather forecasts will increase, that is, meteorologists will be able to predict changes for several days in advance.
The satellite's main instrument is the ALADIN Doppler lidar equipped with a laser. It emits ultraviolet pulses - up to 50 per second - that can pass through the atmosphere and be scattered by air molecules, water droplets and dust particles. The scattered light returns to the sensitive Aeolus detector. Based on the wavelength of the returned light, the instruments determine how the air moves.
The European Space Agency first approved the Aeolus mission in 1999 and originally intended to launch in 2007. However, engineers have had difficulty developing an ultraviolet laser capable of operating in orbit. Many thought that the launch of the satellite would never take place. It took several years for new technologies to emerge to complete the work on the laser.
According to the European Space Agency in a press release, the most important moment after the launch of Aeolus was to turn on the lidar with a laser and check its operation.
“… For two weeks, the entire community has been eagerly awaiting the launch of the ultraviolet laser, which can be described as a technological miracle,” said Josef Aschbacher, ESA Earth Observation Program Manager.
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First data collected by the Aeolus satellite / © ESA
According to the agency, the satellite has already made the first successful measurements and scientists have processed this data. Although the instrument is not yet fully calibrated, the measurements obtained are fairly accurate.