Current space mission context

Timeline for current and projected green-house gases measurement missions.
Mission based on active Lidar measurement concepts are highlighted in bold. Most passive instrument also possess water vapour monitoring channels, whereas current active instrument (MERLIN and ASCEND) are focused on one species.

LEMON : How did it start, technically ?

ONERA Patents for a widely tuneable source, developed initially for combustion analysis (local milti-species gas sensing).

NesCOPO architecture: patented NESted Cavity Optical Parametric Oscillator, benefiting from mature 1µm laser pumping.

The airborne measurement campaign for the instrument validation will be performed through SAFIRE (Service des Avions Français Instrumentés pour la Recherche en Environnement). It is a joint unit between CNRS, Météo-France and CNES in charge of operating French research aircraft. SAFIRE will have Météo-France as third party to prepare and perform the airborne tests on the ATR 42 aircraft.
CNRS LEANDRE, LEANDRE 2 and LNG water vapour Lidar have been implemented sucessfully on board Safire over the last decades.
Website: http://www.safire.fr/fr/.