Merlin (satellite)

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Merlin at the ILA 2018

Merlin ( Methane Remote Sensing Lidar Mission ) is the name of a Franco-German satellite project that Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy agreed on in early 2010 as part of Agenda 2020 . Merlin is to measure the methane concentration in the earth's atmosphere in order to promote the understanding of climate changes .

France is building the LEO satellite in the 200 kg weight class with a planned lifespan of 3 years based on the Myriade satellite bus . Germany supplies the payload, a lidar (light detection and ranging) for the detection of methane in the atmosphere. Both states bear half of the total costs of around 120 million euros. The satellite is scheduled to Template: future / in 4 yearsstart in 2024 .

The differential lidar used works with a tunable laser in the IR range . Its light is weakened by various effects on the way to the ground and back: absorption by methane and water vapor, Mie scattering by particles, albedo of the subsurface. The effects are separated by their wavelength dependence in a narrow range.

Mission preparation

On 17 February 2017, the commissioned German Aerospace Center (DLR) , the Airbus Defense and Space GmbH with the production of the lidar instrument. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) provides the funding . The development took place at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology in Aachen . A lidar model was shown at the Laser World of Photonics 2017 trade fair in Munich in June 2017 .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Merkel and Sarkozy decide on "Agenda 2020". Der Tagesspiegel , February 4, 2010, accessed on August 28, 2010 .
  2. ↑ a b Start of construction for climate satellite. astronews.com, February 20, 2017, accessed July 10, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Satellite to explore methane cycle. astronews.com, December 8, 2015, accessed December 9, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Merlin. In: CNES Projects Library. Center national d'études spatiales , accessed October 14, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Merlin creates a world map of methane concentrations. DLR , September 8, 2010, accessed on September 11, 2010 .
  6. ↑ Climate satellite: On the trail of methane with robust laser technology. IDEA TV, June 22, 2017, accessed July 10, 2017 .