Currently under manufacture by Astrium Satellites and due for launch in 2010, ADM-Aeolus is ESA 's second Earth Explorer Core Mission within its Living Planet programme. The mission is designed to make direct measurements of global three-dimensional wind-fields in order to improve significantly weather forecasting and climate research. The aim of the mission is to provide global observations of wind profiles with a vertical resolution that will satisfy the requirements of the World Metrological Organisation (WMO). ADM-Aeolus will be the first satellite to directly observe the Earth's wind profiles from space. Aeolus will carry just one large instrument - the Atmospheric Laser Doppler Lidar Instrument (ALADIN). This is a direct detection lidar operating in the eye-safe UV spectral region (355nm), using a frequency tripled Nd-YAG transmitter laser, a 1.5m receiver telescope and two spectrometer receivers to determine the Doppler shift of the signal from both the aerosol and the molecular back scatter. This way, wind profiles can be determined throughout the atmosphere up to the lower stratosphere (30km). This paper gives an overview of the mission objectives and the system requirements together with the development status of the satellite currently being assembled on various Astrium sites across Europe. Finally, the challenge to continue data delivery after the first Aeolus with an operational constellation, the "Aeolus Follow-on Mission", is discussed.
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