Errico Armandillo

European Space Agency, Noordwijk, The Netherlands

The paper will give an overview of the various lidar missions being prepared at the European Space Agency in support to Meteorology, Climatiology and Atmospheric Research. Following the ADM (Atmospheric Dynamics Mission)which will be flying an UV Doppler Wind Lidar in 2008, called Aladin, other lidar spaceborne missions and instruments are being developed or are the subject of R&D activities. Following Aladin, there will be the Earth Care missions which will be flying in 2012 a high-power high-spectral resolution backscattering lidar for cloud and aerosol monitoring, called ATLID. Then, following the Earth Care mission, foreseen for a potentail launch in 2015, is under preparation a lidar mission for the monitoring of greenhouse gases (CO₂, CH₄, NO₂). The latter will rely on a different class of lidar so far considered. This presentation will give details and characteristics of the different lidar sensors under qualification or development, together with the critical engineering issues to be addressed/solved for a succesful operation of a lidar in space environment.