It made history.
By firing pulses of ultraviolet light towards the atmosphere and measuring the small fraction of light returned to the satellite, the wind speed of the bottom 30km of the atmosphere across the entire planet was recorded.
The exercise not only reduced the risk of falling debris by a factor of 150, but meant the time Aeolus was left in uncontrolled orbit – after the reentry manoeuvres were made – was shortened by a few weeks, reducing the risk of colliding with other orbiting satellites. The images were captured by the Space Observation Radar TIRA, a 34-metre antenna at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute, two hours before Aeolus transformed into a fireball over the Antarctic.
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