ADM-Aeolus
Artist's view of ADM-Aeolus
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| Mission type | Weather satellite |
|---|---|
| Operator | ESA |
| Mission duration | 3 years (planned) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | Airbus Defence and Space |
| Launch mass | 1,366 kg (3,012 lb) |
| Dimensions | 1.74m × 1.9m × 2m |
| Power | 1400 watts |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 2017 |
| Rocket | Vega |
| Launch site | Kourou ELV |
| Contractor | Arianespace |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Sun-synchronous |
| Perigee | 400 kilometres (250 mi) |
| Apogee | 400 kilometres (250 mi) |
| Inclination | 97 degrees |
| Repeat interval | 7 days |
| Epoch | Planned |
| Transponders | |
| Band |
S band (TT&C support) X band (science data acquisition) |
| Bandwidth | 8 kbit/s download (S band) 10 Mbit/s download (X band) 2kbit /s upload (S band) |
| Instruments | |
| ALADIN: Atmospheric LAser Doppler INstrument | |
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ADM-Aeolus, or, in full, Atmospheric Dynamics Mission Aeolus, is an Earth observation satellite built by Airbus Defence and Space that is due for launch in 2017. ADM-Aeolus will be the first equipment capable of performing global wind-component-profile observation and will provide much-needed information to improve weather forecasting.
in Greek mythology, Aeolus is the name of the ruler of the winds.
The Aeolus is the fifth planned satellite in the Living Planet Programme of the European Space Agency (ESA). The main goal of this mission is to further the knowledge of Earth's atmosphere and weather systems. By recording and monitoring the weather in different parts of the world, Aeolus will allow scientists to build complex weather models, which can then be used to help predict how that environment will behave in the future. These predictions will be useful in the short-term, since they can be applied to Numerical Weather Prediction in order to make forecasts more accurate. The mission will thus improve the knowledge of all sorts of weather phenomena, from global warming to the effects of air pollution. Aeolus is seen as a mission that will pave the way for future operational meteorological satellites dedicated to study Earth's wind profiles.
The spacecraft is being built by Airbus Defence and Space. In 2014 integration of ALADIN was completed and vacuum along with vibration testing begun.
The wind-component profiles will be measured by the Atmospheric LAser Doppler INstrument (ALADIN).
The ALADIN instrument, essentially a direct detection lidar, consists of three major elements: a transmitter, a combined Mie and Rayleigh backscattering receiver assembly, and a Cassegrain telescope with a 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) diameter. The transmitter architecture is based on a 150 mJ diode-pumped frequency-tripled Nd:YAG laser operating in the ultraviolet at 355 nm. The Mie receiver consists of a Fizeau spectrometer with a resolution of 100 MHz (equivalent to 18 m/s). The received backscatter signal produces a linear fringe whose position is directly linked to the wind velocity; the wind speed is determined by the fringe centroid position to better than a tenth of the resolution (1.8 m/s). The Raleigh receiver employs a dual-filter Fabry–Pérot interferometer with a 2 GHz resolution and 5 GHz spacing. It analyzes the wings of the Rayleigh spectrum with a CCD; the etalon is split into two zones, which are imaged separately on the detector.
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Wikipedia