UK-built Forum satellite will measure greenhouse effect.

July 1, 2022

Forum is an acronym that stands for Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring.
The Forum satellite will be assembled by aerospace giant Airbus at its factory in Stevenage.
It will monitor far-infrared radiation coming up from our planet’s surface.
It’s this particular type of light that makes molecules of gases such as carbon dioxide and water vapour vibrate, leading to a heating of the atmosphere – a key aspect of climate change.
Forum is an Earth observation mission of the European Space Agency (ESA)
Forum falls in ESA’s Earth Explorer class of missions. These are experimental satellites that do novel science in areas of pressing environmental interest.
Forum would be the ninth one in the series.
The UK has played significant roles in the preceding missions, at both manufacturer and science investigator level.