Britain to build wind-tracking satellite

By Helen Briggs
BBC News Online

The first satellite to study the Earth's wind patterns from space is to be built in Britain.

The satellite should lead to better storm warnings

The European Space Agency has awarded the prime contract for Aeolus to the space company EADS Astrium (UK).

Engineers in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, will build the satellite's sole 180m euro laser instrument.

Aeolus should improve forecasters' predictions of severe storms and other extreme weather events, when it is launched in 2007.

Current wind data comes from weather balloons, aircraft and fixed ground-based radars. But there are huge gaps in coverage, particularly over oceans and tropical regions.

The satellite will provide a picture of wind speed and direction at different altitudes anywhere on the planet.

This is equivalent to launching one weather balloon every 28 seconds for three years.

Sci-fi lasers

At a contract signing ceremony in London, Professor Jose Achache, Director of Earth Observation Programmes at the European Space Agency, said: "The satellite will be able to cover the whole Earth and provide as many measurements of the wind as we wish."

AEOLUS MISSION AIMS To gather advanced data on global wind patterns To improve predictions of extreme weather events To provide information for climate research

The satellite will fly a laser-based instrument known as Aladin (Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument).

This is a novel application for Europe although a similar laser has been employed, somewhat unsuccessfully, on Nasa's Icesat probe.

The US space agency's mission to map the world's ice sheets has been dogged by a problem with the main onboard laser.

Professor Achache said: "It's a very challenging technology that Europe must master and we trust that Astrium will drive us in the right direction in this very challenging, very important technology."

Dr Mike Healy, EADS Astrium's Director of Earth Observation, Navigation and Science UK, said the instrument was the start of James Bond style technology.

He compared it with the fictional laser Icarus from the film Die Another Day.

He told BBC News Online: "James Bond's Icarus laser technology may seem a little far-fetched but in fact Aeolus being just a fraction of that power means that we can use it for the good of mankind rather than the detriment of it."