Our first EULIAA lidar, operating at Andøya Space since more than half a year, caught something new:
With the now starting season, the lidar measured its first Noctilucent Cloud (NLC), also called Polar Mesospheric Cloud (PMC), in altitude of 80-90 km. As the name suggests, they usually only appear in polar regions but with the increasing climate change they can be seen in more southern latitudes. So, they can be a potential tracer for monitoring of the climate change if the understanding of their formation and the necessary conditions improves. Our EULIAA lidars can contribute with its data from otherwise inaccessible altitudes.
Autor: gabriele.fort-wydera@ilt.fraunhofer.de
EULIAA IR lidar tracks rocket emissions at ESA symposium
At the ESA Symposium on European Rocket and Balloon Programmes and Related Research in Trondheim, Thorben H. Lüke‑Mense (Leibniz Institute of Atmospheric Physics, IAP) presented first results from the EULIAA infrared lidar at the ALOMAR observatory in Northern Norway.
The system, operating autonomously at Andøya Space since October 2025, successfully measured aerosols from a sounding rocket exhaust throughout the atmosphere during launch.
These measurements, although not the primary project objective, demonstrate the strong potential of EULIAA lidar technology for monitoring spaceflight emissions and have already triggered discussions with stakeholders from the space transportation community.