SOVA-S – to scout for gravity waves

SOVA-S, an ESA Scout mission, stands for Satellite Observation of Waves in the Atmosphere – Scout. It will carry a shortwave infrared imager to provide near-global daily observations of gravity waves at an altitude of between 80 km and 120 km. It will do this by measuring the intensity of ‘airglow’ – a faint emission of light produced by a chemical reaction in the atmosphere.