MERLIN
MERLIN is a Franco-German project in which France is responsible for the platform and Germany for the payload. The mission is designed to measure methane with high precision. The Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IPA) is in charge of the scientific exploitation together with CNES.
MERLIN's ability to measure permafrost areas during the polar night is particularly important, as passive instruments can only collect useful data in these areas during the local summer. As an active instrument, MERLIN is not subject to this restriction and can measure day and night all year round.
The launch of MERLIN is planned for 2029. In the project, EOC is responsible for the implementation of the Level 1 processor and, together with IPA, for the development of the calibration algorithms.
EOC is also carrying out the long-term monitoring of the instrument. Various instrument parameters are monitored in order to be able to react to changes in the instrument at an early stage.
In addition to DLR institutes, CNES (the French space agency) and other French institutes, the MERLIN consortium also includes Airbus Defence and Space, responsible for the construction of the instrument, and the company SciSys, responsible for the transmission of instrument data and the data user interface.