AEOLUS weekly mission planning concept and strategy

<p>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).</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p>