The European Space Agency's (ESA) Aeolus satellite was launched on 22 August 2018 from Centre Spatial Guyanais in Kourou, French Guyana. The Atmospheric LAser Doppler Instrument (ALADIN), the sole payload on Aeolus, was the world's first spaceborne Doppler Wind Lidar (DWL), providing profiles of horizontal line-of-sight (HLOS) wind retrievals to be used as Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) model input to improve short to medium range forecasts 1. Aeolus data has been extensively analysed by a number of meteorological centres and found to have a positive impact on NWP forecasts, particularly in the tropics and polar regions 2. These positive results, along with the successful in-orbit demonstration of the measurement concept and associated technologies utilized on Aeolus, resulted in a statement of interest from EUMETSAT in a future operational DWL mission in the 2030 to mid-2040s timeframe and a request to ESA to carry out the necessary pre-development activities for such a mission.
Ciapponi et al. (Thu,) studied this question.