AWS (Arctic Weather Satellite)

AWS [OHB Sweden]

AWS (Arctic Weather Satellite) is a small polar-orbiting protoype meteorological satellite funded under a contract with the European Space Agency under the Earth Watch program as a precursor for a multi-satellite constellation called EUMETSAT Polar System – Sterna (EPS-Sterna). By providing global measurements of atmospheric temperature and humidity with frequent revisit times, the polar-orbiting Arctic Weather Satellite mission will complement MetOp and its counterpart US NOAA Joint Polar Satellite System.

The industrial team led by OHB Sweden consists of three core-members. OHB Sweden as mission prime, platform provider and system integrator, Omnisys instruments AB as Instrument prime and Thales Alenia Space as Ground Segment (incl. operations) prime.

The satellite is based on OHB Sweden's InnoSat platform. AWS will use a passive microwave radiometer providing global measurements of the atmosphere to be used as part of Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP), Nowcasting (NWC) and to support climate research and applications.

The EUMETSAT Polar System – Sterna (EPS-Sterna) will consist of six satellites in three orbital planes.