ADM-Aeolus on 22 August 2018 on a Vega rocket from French Guiana at 18:20 local time. ESA's Living Planet Programme: ADM-Aeolus Aeolus, or, in full, Atmospheric Dynamics Mission Aeolus, is an Earth observation satellite built by Airbus Defence and Space that was launched on 22 August 2018. ADM-Aeolus is the first satellite with equipment capable of performing global wind-component-profile observation and will provide much-needed information to improve weather forecasting. Aeolus is the first satellite capable of observing what the winds are doing on Earth, from the surface of the planet and into the stratosphere 30 km high. The orbiter was named
HMS Aeolus (1801) the third ship in the Navy to be named "Aeolus". The first, also a 32-gun fifth rate (launched in 1758), was still in existence but had been reduced to harbour service in 1796 and renamed "Guernsey" in 1800 to free the name for the new ship. Then a squadron captured the French frigate "Pallas", which received the name "Aeolus". In the meantime, "Guernsey" was sold in May 1801, shortly after the third "Aeolus" had completed fitting out the previous month, at Deptford Dockyard. The second "Aeolus" was then renamed to "Pique". "Aeolus" was at first employed on convoy duties and