Weighing just 125 kg and measuring 1.0 m x 5.3 m x 0.9 m, ESA’s Arctic Weather Satellite is a small satellite – but one with big ambitions.
Embracing the New Space approach to prove new concepts in a cost-effective and timely manner, the mission is designed to show how a potential polar-orbiting constellation of satellites could provide data for very short-term weather forecasts and nowcasts in the Arctic and northern latitude nations, a region that lacks these kind of accurate forecasts. Importantly, the constellation would also contribute to more accurate weather forecasting around the world.