Science reporter Laura Foster and BBC Weather presenter Ben Rich explain why wind is so important when it comes to predicting what the weather is doing.
The British-assembled Aeolus satellite was launched into space with the hope that it will draw a global map of the wind’s behaviour.
It will get its data by firing a powerful laser down into the atmosphere to trace the movement of air particles.
Meteorologists are hopeful the mission will have a big impact on the quality of medium-range weather forecasts.