Image copyright PA Image caption Aeolus data should mean there are fewer surprises in the forecasts

A British-assembled satellite has been launched into space to make the first truly global maps of wind behaviour.

The Aeolus spacecraft will get its data by firing a powerful laser down into the atmosphere to trace the movement of air particles.

Meteorologists are hopeful the mission will have a big impact on the quality of medium-range weather forecasts.

Aeolus launched on a Vega rocket from French Guiana at 18:20 local time (22:20 BST).

The rocket was due to lift off on Tuesday, but the launch was postponed - ironically - due to high altitude winds.

The satellite should begin a programme of testing once it is safely at an altitude of 320km. Team members hope that routine forecasting should be incorporating the laser's information within the year.

How to measure the wind from space

Image copyright ESA

Aeolus will fire an ultraviolet laser through the atmosphere and measure the return signal using a large telescope

The light beam gets scattered back off air molecules and small particles moving in the wind at different altitudes

Meteorologists will adjust their numerical models to match the information gathered by the satellite, improving accuracy

The biggest impacts are expected on medium-range forecasts - those that look at weather conditions a few days hence

Aeolus is only a demonstration mission but it should blaze the trail for future operational weather satellites that use lasers

Aeolus: Wind satellite weathers technical storm

Image copyright ARIANESPACE/CNES/ESA Image caption Aeolus was originally planned to launch a decade ago

Why does this space mission matter?

Currently, there are multiple ways to measure the wind, from whirling anemometers and weather balloons to the satellites that infer wind behaviour by tracking clouds in the sky. But these are all limited indications that tell us what is happening in particular places or at particular heights.

Aeolus on the other hand will gather wind data across the entire Earth, from the ground to the stratosphere (30km).

The biggest benefits should come to forecasts that look a few days ahead.

Bad storms in Europe, for example, will sometimes have their origin in the tropics, and when meteorologists fail to anticipate their severity it's often because the initial-state conditions given to computer models contained inaccurate wind information.

How big an improvement will Aeolus bring?

The tropics are the key region where the Sun dumps its energy into the Earth system. It is this solar input that triggers the large-scale patterns of circulation in the atmosphere.

"These patterns then propagate both north and south and influence the variability at the mid-latitudes, and, in particular for medium-range forecasts, this influence is very important," explained Erland Källén, a former director of research at the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).

Mr Källén, who is now director of the Centre for Climate Research in Singapore, said: "If we don't get the tropics right in the initial state for the forecasting, we can't then get the mid-latitudes right in the medium range."

Simulations of the forthcoming data suggest Aeolus's impact will be like doubling the number of weather balloons available to meteorologists.

Forecast quality is anticipated to increase by 2-4% outside of the tropics and by up to 15% in the tropics themselves.

Image copyright ESA Image caption Aeolus should keep working for at least three to four years

How come no one's done this before?

Technical problems mean Aeolus is more than a decade late.

The European Space Agency, whose project this is, first approved the mission in 1999, with the intention of launching the satellite in 2007. But engineers struggled to get the ultraviolet laser to work in the conditions it would experience in orbit.

The British arm of Airbus, which led the assembly of Aeolus, essentially had to mothball the chassis, or bus, of the spacecraft for several years while new designs for the laser were sought.

Aeolus is arguably the most difficult mission ever implemented by Esa. Many thought it might never fly.

Anders Elfving is the agency's Aeolus project manager. He told BBC News: "Really what has fundamentally helped us - has motivated us - is the user community, because nobody else serves them with wind information globally.

"We will really still be, after sixteen years, the only supplier of it. And very soon we can give meteorologists our data pipeline and they can tell us: 'yes, you have the breakthrough we wanted'."

What happens after Aeolus?

Aeolus is just a one-off demonstration mission, which raises the question of what happens when it inevitably reaches the end of its working life.

If it delivers on its promise, forecasters will be loath to lose the advantage. But it would not be Esa's role to produce a second spacecraft.

The agency is in the business of R&D, of trialling new concepts. It would be down to others to fund follow-on missions.

In Europe, this would fall either to Eumetsat, the intergovernmental organisation that runs Europe's operational weather satellites, or the European Commission through its own Earth observation programme, known as Copernicus.

It is conceivable also that international partners, such as the US and China, would be interested in lofting a constellation of satellites.

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos</s>Arianespace has successfully launched the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Aeolus satellite, as it prepares for the arrival of Vega C next year.

To read this article, go to Air & Cosmos International.</s>A British-built laser satellite has been launched into space on a three-year mission that could revolutionise how weather forecasts are made across the globe.

The Aeolus spacecraft, named after the keeper of the winds in Greek mythology, took off on a rocket from Kourou in French Guiana 24 hours later than planned due to bad weather above the spaceport.

Floating nearly 200 miles (320km) above Earth's surface, the satellite will fire lasers into the planet's lower atmosphere to track wind speed and direction.

It is hoped the high-altitude data it collects will improve the accuracy of weather forecasts and help protect people from disasters such as floods and hurricanes.

Aeolus launched atop a European Space Agency (ESA) Vega rocket at 10:20pm BST (5:20pm ET) on Wednesday following almost a decade of delays to the project.

Less than an hour later, the rocket delivered the 1,360-kilo (3,000lb) satellite into orbit.

It forms part of the Copernicus project, a joint initiative of the European Union and ESA to track environmental damage and aid disaster relief operations.

The satellite was built by Airbus Defence and Space in Stevenage and – equipped with a powerful laser – will be the first able to directly measure wind speeds on Earth from space.

James Cotton, a satellite winds scientist at the Met Office, said: 'The Aeolus mission aims to improve the global coverage of wind profile observations, including areas where in situ wind measurements are currently lacking, such as over the oceans, in the tropics and the Southern Hemisphere.

'Within numerical weather prediction, we expect the Aeolus winds to be particularly useful for improving our analysis of the atmospheric state in the tropics, a region where we know the model wind errors are large.'

Aeolus is carrying just one large instrument, a Doppler wind lidar called Aladin.

The tool will emit short, powerful light pulses from a laser through the atmosphere and collect light that is 'backscattered' from particles of gas, dust and droplets of water moving in the wind.

Meteorologists will be able to use this information to help predict the weather at altitudes between six and 18 miles (10-30 km).

Scientists currently cannot measure wind speeds in this region using traditional ground-based weather systems.

Speaking following the launch, Josef Aschbacher, ESA's director of earth observation programmes, said: 'Such pioneering technology has meant that it has been a demanding mission to develop, but thanks to all the teams involved we are thrilled that this extraordinary satellite is now in orbit.

'We look forward to it living up to expectations.'

Science minister Sam Gyimah said: 'The Aeolus mission is a great example of the potential real-world impacts that space can have on Earth.

'Its data will lead to more reliable weather forecasts that can be used by farmers, seafarers, construction workers and others to improve productivity and safety.

'Space is a key part of our modern industrial strategy and it is work like this that shows how vital our role in the European Space Agency is in bringing real benefits to UK companies.'</s>The European Space Agency is preparing to launch the first satellite that will directly measure wind speeds around the world in what scientists hope will improve weather forecasts.

The Aeolus probe, named after the keeper of the winds in Greek mythology, is scheduled to lift off late Wednesday aboard a Vega rocket from a spaceport in French Guiana.

The satellite is equipped with a Doppler lidar—nicknamed Aladin—that uses pulses of light to detect the movement of tiny particles in the air. The data can be used to calculate wind speeds, a process that's currently done from the ground or, indirectly, by observing waves and clouds from planes or space.

The European Space Agency says real-time wind measurements will make weather and climate predictions more accurate.</s>Arianespace marked another mission accomplished for the Earth’s sustainable development as its light-lift Vega vehicle successfully orbited Europe’s Aeolus – the first satellite designed to profile wind profiles on a global scale.

Lifting off from the Spaceport’s Vega Launch Complex at 6:20:09 p.m. local time in French Guiana – the planned precise moment of launch – Vega lofted its passenger during a flight lasting just under 55 minutes, with Aeolus placed into a Sun-synchronous orbit.

Built by Airbus Defence and Space, the satellite carries a laser Doppler wind LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) system called Aladin that will probe the lowermost 30 km. of the atmosphere in measuring winds around the Earth.

The LIDAR’s near-real-time observations will provide reliable wind profiles, further improving the accuracy of numerical weather and climate prediction, as well as advance the understanding of tropical dynamics and processes relevant to climate variability.

In post-launch comments from the Spaceport, Arianespace CEO Stéphane Israël congratulated this mission’s customer – the European Space Agency (ESA) – and underscored his company’s continuing contributions to space research and science at the service of such institutions.

“Ensuring reliable and independent access to space for Europe is our no. 1 mission,” he added. “It would not be possible without the long-term partnership we have with ESA.”

Aeolus marked the milestone 50th mission – and the eighth dedicated to Earth observation – performed by Arianespace for ESA. It is one of the agency’s Earth Explorer missions, which address key scientific challenges identified by the science community and demonstrate breakthrough technology in observing techniques.

Marking another milestone, Aeolus also is the 120th Airbus-produced spacecraft launched by Arianespace, with 20 more still in the company’s order book.

Designated Flight VV12, today’s mission was Vega’s 12th since entering service in 2012 (all of which have been successful), and it further demonstrated the capabilities of a light-lift vehicle that completes Arianespace’s launcher family – joining the company’s medium-lift Soyuz and heavyweight Ariane 5 in reliable side-by-side operations from the Spaceport in French Guiana. Vega is provided to Arianespace by Italy’s Avio, which is the industrial prime contractor.

The 12 successful missions performed to date by Vega were for both institutional customers and commercial export customers, confirming the launcher’s operational capabilities as well as its adaptability.

Flight VV12 was Arianespace’s fifth mission in 2018, and the company’s first this year using Vega. Next up in the company’s manifest is the milestone 100th launch of a workhorse Ariane 5, which will orbit the Horizons 3e and Azerspace-2/Intelsat-38 commercial telecommunications satellites in September.</s>A British-built laser satellite has been launched into space on a three-year mission to measure wind speeds. The Aeolus spacecraft took off on a rocket from Kourou in French Guiana at 10.20pm BST on Wednesday, 24 hours later than planned due to bad weather above the spaceport.

Less than an hour later, the rocket delivered Aeolus into orbit. The European Space Agency (ESA) mission is expected to provide important data which could significantly improve weather forecasting around the world. Aeolus, named after the keeper of the winds in Greek mythology, was originally due to launch in 2007 but the project was beset by delays. The satellite was built by Airbus Defence and Space in Stevenage and – equipped with a powerful laser – will be the first able to directly measure wind speeds on Earth from space.

Flying 200 miles above Earth, the data it collects may improve the accuracy of weather forecasts and help protect people from disasters such as floods and hurricanes. James Cotton, a satellite winds scientist at the Met Office, said: “The Aeolus mission aims to improve the global coverage of wind profile observations, including areas where in situ wind measurements are currently lacking, such as over the oceans, in the tropics and the Southern Hemisphere. “Within numerical weather prediction, we expect the Aeolus winds to be particularly useful for improving our analysis of the atmospheric state in the tropics, a region where we know the model wind errors are large.”

Aeolus is carrying just one large instrument, a Doppler wind lidar called Aladin. The tool will emit short, powerful light pulses from a laser through the atmosphere and collect light that is “backscattered” from particles of gas, dust and droplets of water moving in the wind. Meteorologists will be able to use this information to help predict the weather.

Speaking following the launch, Josef Aschbacher, ESA’s director of earth observation programmes, said: “Such pioneering technology has meant that it has been a demanding mission to develop, but thanks to all the teams involved we are thrilled that this extraordinary satellite is now in orbit. We look forward to it living up to expectations.” Science minister Sam Gyimah said: “The Aeolus mission is a great example of the potential real-world impacts that space can have on Earth. “Its data will lead to more reliable weather forecasts that can be used by farmers, seafarers, construction workers and others to improve productivity and safety. “Space is a key part of our modern industrial strategy and it is work like this that shows how vital our role in the European Space Agency is in bringing real benefits to UK companies.”</s>A new satellite that will use advanced laser technology to track global winds and improve weather forecasts has been successfully put into orbit, launch company Arianespace said.

The launch of the "Aeolus" satellite -- named after the guardian of wind in Greek mythology -- took place at 2120 GMT Wednesday, after a 24-hour delay due to adverse weather conditions.

Arianespace's light-lift vehicle "Vega lofted its passenger during a flight lasting just under 55 minutes, with Aeolus placed into a Sun-synchronous orbit," the company said after the launch.

Sun-synchronous orbits allow satellites always to have view of the Sun, for example so their solar panels can always draw power.

The satellite "will probe the lowermost 30 kilometres (18 miles) of the atmosphere in measuring winds around the Earth," Arianespace said.

Aeolus is part of the Copernicus project, a joint initiative of the European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA) to track environmental damage and aid disaster relief operations.

The satellite is equipped with a single instrument: a Doppler wind lidar -- an advanced laser system designed to accurately measure global wind patterns from space.

"The LIDAR's near-real-time observations will provide reliable wind profiles, further improving the accuracy of numerical weather and climate prediction, as well as advance the understanding of tropical dynamics and processes relevant to climate variability," Arianespace said after the launch.

It described the satellite as the world's first space mission to gather information on Earth's wind on a global scale.

Tropical winds in particular are very poorly mapped because of the almost complete absence of direct observations.

The Doppler lidar transmits short, powerful pulses of laser light toward Earth in the ultraviolet spectrum. Particles in the air -- moisture, dust, gases -- reflect, or scatter, a small fraction of that light energy back to the transceiver, where it is collected and recorded.

The delay between the outgoing pulse and the so-called "backscattered" signal reveals the wind's direction, speed and distance travelled.

Once per orbit, data is downloaded to a ground station in Svalbard, Norway.

Aeolus is the fifth of the ESA's planned Earth Explorer missions.

Others already completed or in operation have measured Earth's gravity and geomagnetic fields, soil moisture, ocean salinity and frozen expanses collectively known as the cryosphere.

The new mission is also Arianespace's 50th launch for the European Space Agency.</s>Europe launched a rocket from French Guyana on Wednesday, to put a satellite into orbit which will track global winds, allowing for improved weather forecasting, Arianespace said.

The launch took place at 2120 GMT after a 24-hour delay due to adverse weather conditions. The flight was scheduled at just under 55 minutes from liftoff to separation of the satellite.

The “Aeolus” satellite — named after the guardian of wind in Greek mythology — will be placed at an altitude of 320 kilometres (200 miles) above the Earth.

It is part of the Copernicus project, a joint initiative of the European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA) to track environmental damage and aid disaster relief operations.

Aeolus is equipped with a single instrument: a Doppler wind lidar — an advanced laser system designed to accurately measure global wind patterns from space.

“This mission will thus provide much-needed data to improve the quality of weather forecasting as well as contributing to long-term climate research,” Arianespace said in its website.

It described the satellite as the world’s first space mission to acquire profiles of Earth’s wind on a global scale.

Tropical winds in particular are very poorly mapped because of the almost complete absence of direct observations.

The Doppler lidar transmits short, powerful pulses of laser light toward Earth in the ultraviolet spectrum. Particles in the air — moisture, dust, gases — scatter a small fraction of that light energy back to the transceiver, where it is collected and recorded.

The delay between the outgoing pulse and the so-called “backscattered” signal reveals the wind’s direction, speed and distance travelled.

Once per orbit, data is downloaded to a ground station in Svalbard, Norway.

Aeolus is the fifth of the ESA’s planned Earth Explorer missions.

Others already completed or in operation have measured Earth’s gravity and geomagnetic fields, soil moisture, ocean salinity and frozen expanses collectively known as the cryosphere.

The new mission is also Arianespace’s 50th launch for the European Space Agency.</s>A rocket holding the Aeolus wind surveying satellite launched from Europe's spaceport Kourou, French Guyana on Wednesday, the European Space Agency (ESA) confirmed.

The launch took place at 6:20 p.m. local time (2120 UTC) and the flight was scheduled at just 55 minutes from liftoff to separation. The satellite will be placed at an altitude of 320 kilometers (200 miles) above the Earth.

The Aeolus satellite, named after the guardian of wind in Greek mythology, is only equipped with a Doppler wind lidar – an advanced laser system designed to measure global wind patterns from space. It has been described as the world's first space mission to acquire profiles of the Earth's wind on a global scale.

"Aeolus epitomizes the essence of an Earth Explorer. It will fill a gap in our knowledge of how the planet functions and demonstrate how cutting-edge technology can be used in space," said Jan Wörner, ESA Director General.

Ironically, the satellite launch was delayed 24 hours because of adverse weather conditions.

The Doppler lidar transmits short, powerful pulses of ultraviolet light towards earth. Air particles such as moisture, dust and gasses scatter a small fraction of that light energy back to the transceiver, where it is collected and recorded. The delay between the outgoing pulse and the "backscattered" signal reveals the wind's direction, speed and distance traveled.

The launch is part of the Copernicus project, a joint effort by the European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA) to track environmental damage and assist disaster relief operations.

Aeolus is the fifth of ESA's planned explorer missions. Others have measured or are measuring the Earth's gravity and geomagnetic fields, soil moisture, ocean salinity and frozen expanses known as the cryosphere.</s>Vega soars into the sky with ESA’s Aeolus wind-monitoring satellite

Arianespace successfully sent Europe’s wind-monitoring satellite named Aeolus to orbit on Wednesday, Aug. 22. The France-based firm used the smallest launch vehicle in its catalog, Vega, to carry out the first part of Aeolus’s mission underway.

The rocket lifted off at 6:20 p.m. local time (5:20 p.m. EDT; 21:20 GMT) from the Vega Launch Complex (SLV) located in Kourou, French Guiana.

The mission had been targeted to get underway on Aug. 21, however Arianespace decided to delay the launch by 24 hours due to unfavorable wind conditions in the local area.

The launch campaign for the mission, designated VV12 in Arianespace’s numbering system, kicked off nearly two months ago, on June 28, with the arrival of the Aeolus spacecraft in French Guiana. Throughout July, the engineers were busy integrating the rocket’s stages as well as conducting checks and fueling of the spacecraft itself.

The satellite was encapsulated in the payload fairing in early August. The stack was then transferred to the launch pad and integrated on the launcher on Aug. 10. Three days later, final preparations for the flight began with the start of propellant filling operations of the Vega booster. Final inspection of the fairing was conducted on August 18 and two days later the launch readiness review was performed which cleared the mission for final countdown operations. These began some nine hours and ten minutes prior to the launch.

With the ignition of its P80 engine, Vega started its vertical ascent, being powered by the first stage for almost two minutes. This stage then separated at an altitude of about 33 miles (53 kilometers). At this point in the mission’s ascent, control over the flight was taken over by the Zefiro 23 second stage rocket motor.

The Zefiro 23 was active for only one minute and 43 seconds until its detachment at T+3:37 minutes. Afterward, about 14 seconds later, the Zefiro 9 third stage ignited its engine and began its part of the flight. It burned for some two minutes and 39 seconds, during which the protective payload fairing was detached.

The Zefiro 9 third stage separated from the launch vehicle approximately six and a half minutes into the flight. The separation marked the start of the longest (nearly 50-minute-long) part of the mission, during which the AVUM upper stage continued the trek towards the designated orbit with the Aeolus satellite still attached to it.

AVUM ignited its engine for the first time at eight minutes and three seconds into the flight. Overall, the upper stage conducted two engine burns in order to release the payload into space at an altitude of about 200 miles (323 kilometers), almost 55 minutes after liftoff.

Manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space, Aeolus is an Earth observation satellite that weighs in at about 1.36 metric tons. The satellite platform, fitted with two solar arrays, is based on the same design as ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, with dimensions of 13.12 by 14.27 by 5.25 feet (4.0 by 4.35 by 1.6 meters).

Aeolus is described as the world’s first space mission to acquire profiles of Earth’s wind on a global scale. The satellite is therefore equipped with an advanced laser system, the Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument, or Aladin for short is designed to timely and accurately measure global wind-profiles from space.

“Aladin fires a powerful ultraviolet laser pulse down through the atmosphere and collects backscattered light, using a large 1.5-meter diameter telescope, which is then analyzed on-board by highly sensitive receivers to determine the Doppler shift of the signal from layers at different heights in the atmosphere,” Airbus Defence and Space wrote on its website.

ESA expects that Aeolus will give scientists global information on the speed of the wind in near-real time. This would advance our knowledge on how wind, pressure, temperature and humidity are interlinked. The mission should provide its services from a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) at an altitude of about 199 miles (320 kilometers), for up to three years.

“Aeolus is set to be a game changer for understanding the dynamics of our atmosphere and it will have real-world applications by being used to improve our weather forecasts,” said Josef Aschbacher, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programs.

The Vega rocket that was used for Wednesday’s flight is a single-body launcher with three solid-propellant stages and a liquid-propellant upper module for attitude and orbit control, and satellite release. With a height of 98 feet (30 meters) and a diameter of 9.8 feet (3 meters), the rocket is described as being capable of placing satellites with a mass of 660–3,300 pounds (300–1500 kilograms) into polar or low-Earth orbits. This series of launch vehicles is commonly used for many scientific and Earth observation missions.

The rocket’s first stage is a one-piece solid-fuel rocket engine which has been designated as the P80. This stage is 38 feet (11.7 meters) tall with a diameter of about 9.8 feet (3 meters). Zefiro 23 is Vega’s second stage and has a height of about 27.5 feet (8.39 meters) and a diameter of 6.2 feet (1.9 meters). The rocket’s third stage, Zefiro 9, is 13.5 feet (4.12 meters) in length and 6.2 feet (1.9 meters) in diameter.

Vega’s upper stage, named Attitude Vernier Upper Module (AVUM), has dimensions of 5.6 by 6.2 feet (1.7 m × 1.9 m). It consists of two modules: APM (AVUM Propulsion Module) and AAM (AVUM Avionics Module). The first module uses an RD-843 rocket engine to boost the payload into a targeted orbit, while the second contains the main components of the avionics subsystem of the vehicle.

The first flight of the Vega booster was conducted in February of 2012. The VV12 mission is the 12th flight of a Vega booster to date.

Wednesday’s lift off was the fifth mission that Arianespace has conducted so far this year (2018). The company’s next launch is currently scheduled for September 7, when an Ariane 5 rocket is scheduled to deliver two communications satellites into orbit.
The European Space Agency's ADM-Aeolus global wind mapping satellite is successfully launched via a Vega rocket from Guiana Space Centre.