Observation of aerosols and clouds planned with the Mission Demonstration Satellite Lidar (ELISE)

The space lidar which is named Experimental Lidar-In-Space Equipment (ELISE) is being developed by the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) for the Mission Demonstration Satellite II planned for launch in 2002. The primary purpose of ELISE is to demonstrate the space lidar technology and the feasibility of the Mie scattering lidar observation of clouds and aerosols from space. The planned mission period is one year. ELISE is a two-wavelength Mie scattering lidar (1053 nm and 527 nm) using a Nd:YLF laser. The receiver has three detection channels, an analogue channel and a photon counting channel at 1053 nm and a photon counting channel at 527 nm. The planned orbit for ELISE is a polar orbit with an altitude of 550 km. Specifications of ELISE are presented.