Aeolus Wind Satellite

About Aeolus Wind Satellite:

• Aeolus is a satellite mission launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) to study Earth’s winds and their influence on the planet’s climate and weather patterns.
• The mission is named after Aeolus, the ruler of the winds in Greek mythology.
• Aeolus was launched on August 22, 2018, from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana.
• It is a 1,360-kilogram satellite.
• Mission Objectives:
  • The primary goal of the Aeolus mission is to measure global wind profiles from space.
  • It aims to provide accurate and comprehensive data on wind patterns in the Earth’s atmosphere to improve weather forecasting, understand climate dynamics, and enhance our knowledge of the Earth’s atmospheric circulation.
  • It is the first satellite mission to acquire profiles of Earth’s wind on a global scale. 
• Instrumentation:
  • Aeolus is equipped with a single instrument called the Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument (ALADIN).
  • ALADIN is a Doppler wind lidar, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging, that will measure the winds sweeping around the planet.

Q1) What is the Doppler effect?

The Doppler effect is a fundamental concept in physics that describes the change in frequency or wavelength of a wave as observed by an observer moving relative to the source of the wave. It is named after the Austrian physicist Christian Doppler, who first described the phenomenon in 1842. The Doppler effect can be observed in various types of waves, such as sound waves, light waves, and electromagnetic waves.

Source: European satellite being made to crash intentionally on Earth

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