Aeolus

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General

Designation
Launch date	initially planned in Oct 2007
Country of origin	Europe
Mission
Perigee/Apogee	400 km sunsynchronous
Inclination
Period
Launch vehicle
Launch site

Cost: EUR 300 million (including EUR 180 million for the payload)

Will monitor wind: will create a wind profile showing the relative strength and direction of winds at different altitudes.

Will act as a demonstrator of the actual utility of global wind profiles for weather prediction and other atmospheric science uses. If it proves interesting, several operational satellites are planned.

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External resources

http://www.esa.int/export/esaLP/aeolus.htmlLookup sat-index archive

Technical data

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Specifications

Prime contractor	Astrium
Platform	Mars/Venus Express
Mass at launch	1500 kg
Mass in orbit
Dimension
Solar array
Stabilization
DC power
Design lifetime	3 years

Payload: ALADIN (Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument), a lidar which uses the Doppler effect to determine the wind speed at varying altitudes.

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