A spacecraft studying Earth’s warming ‘greenhouse’ impact in unprecedented detail will be developed in the United Kingdom.
Airbus, the aerospace giant, will manufacture the Forum satellite at its Stevenage facility.
This sort of light causes molecules of gases such as carbon dioxide and water vapour to vibrate, causing the atmosphere to heat up – a major feature of climate change.
Forum is a European Space Agency Earth observation project (Esa). Its deal with Airbus is worth €160 million (£140 million).
On Monday night, the paperwork was signed in the House of Commons in the presence of Minister for Science, Research, and Innovation George Freeman.
Forum, he said, was another outstanding Esa initiative that capitalized on the UK’s expertise in climate change research and satellite manufacture.
“We’re really adept at capturing Earth observation data and building a whole series of applications from it.” So, I believe we’re in for an exciting period,” he told his audience.
Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring is an abbreviation for Forum.
The almost one-tonne satellite will be launched on a Vega rocket in 2027.
Without the atmosphere, the Earth’s surface temperature would be several degrees below zero.
Incoming solar shortwave radiation is absorbed at the surface and re-emitted at longer wavelengths, in the infrared.
This energy would be lost if there was no water vapour, carbon dioxide, or other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.