The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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This photo, which was taken in the cleanroom when Aeolus was being built, shows the instrument’s two lasers. They are the two large square plate-like items in the middle.
Aeolus carries the world’s first space Doppler wind lidar. It works by emitting short, powerful pulses of ultraviolet light from a laser and measures the Doppler shift from the very small amount of light that is scattered back to the instrument from molecules and particles in the atmosphere to deliver vertical profiles that show the speed of the world’s winds in the lowermost 30 km of the atmosphere.
While it has been delivering high-quality global measurements of Earth’s wind since it was launched in August 2018, the laser transmitter, has been slowly losing energy. As a result, ESA decided to switch over to the instrument’s second laser, and the mission is back on top form.
Read full story: Second laser boosts Aeolus power