AEOLUS weekly mission planning concept and strategy

Launched in August 2018, Aeolus is the first remote sensing mission using a Doppler Wind Lidar for the observation of Earth’s wind and air circulation on a global scale. The main instrument ALADIN – Atmospheric LAser Doppler INstrument –  is measuring the atmospheric dynamics in the near-UV at wavelength of 355 nm, receiving back the signal through two different channels for clear air molecules (Rayleigh) and aerosol and clouds particles (Mie).

ALADIN operations are commanded from ground and are a combination of wind acquisitions and in-flight calibrations, for monitoring the instrument health and improving data quality. The mission is based on a planning cycle of 111 orbits, covering exactly one calendar week, for ~16 orbits per day.

The analysis of the weekly mission planning is performed taking into account a number of requirements and constraints at different levels, including platform and instrument system requirements, calibrations measurement performance, NRT data optimisation, science and cal/val requests, and requirements in support to collocated measurement campaigns. Once the analysis is done, the planning is then built into a timeline of consecutive requests for changing measurement mode, using specific instrument parameters tables.

This poster will provide an overview of the Aeolus weekly mission planning concept, strategy and methodology, together with a description of the major operations events for Aladin FM-A and FM-B instruments during the operational phase.