The French Space Agency has awarded Airbus a contract to build and design two microwave radiometers for the Atmosphere Observing System: Convective Core Observations through MicrOwave Derivatives in the trOpics mission.
AOS, a component of NASA’s Earth System Observatory, is a collaborative project between the United States and partner organizations in Canada, Japan, Italy and France. It will consist of six satellites in various Earth orbits to provide researchers with measurements of aerosols, clouds, atmospheric convection and precipitation, enabling them to conduct studies that could improve weather, air quality and climate forecasts.
The microwave radiometers, which will be the French contribution to the AOS C2OMODO mission, will be installed on the AOS spacecraft AOS Storm and Precipitation Measuring Mission, which are expected to be deployed to an inclined orbit in 2029. According to NASA, the equipment includes a range of channels to measure ice water path, precipitation, atmospheric temperature and humidity.
“Working on climate missions is something that really matters to us at Airbus,” said Alain Faure, head of space systems at Airbus. “With this contract Airbus is further reinforcing its role in helping better understand clouds, weather and climate.”