Europe’s Next Weather Satellite Ready To Fly
In only a few days, Europe will complete their next-generation weather observation system, Meteosat Third Generation. Launching August 27th aboard an Ariane 62 rocket, the second MTG-Imager spacecraft will ensure the longevity of the first batch of MTG imagers before the second series launches beginning 2032.
Meteosat Third Generation is the latest incarnation of Europe’s geostationary weather observation system. Similar in function to the United States’s GOES program, Japan’s Himawari, and Russia’s Elektro-L, Meteosat satellites have sat over Europe and North Africa since 1977 to provide crucial data to forecasters and climatologists.
Meteosat has consisted of three generations over its history. The first generation consisting of seven satellites launched between 1977 and 1997, provided twice hourly full disk images of Europe, North Africa, and the Indian Ocean region. The satellites were spin stabilized and contained a visible and infrared camera as well as a relay to transfer data from various remote environmental stations back to Europe for collection and analysis. Meteosat-7 was finally retired in April 2017. Meteosat Second Generation consists of four satellites launched between 2002 and 2015. In addition to a significantly upgraded camera and the addition of a radiation budget instrument, full disk images are delivered every 15 minutes and images of Europe every five minutes.
In planning since the year 2000, Meteosat Third Generation consists of six satellites, to be launched between 2022 and 2036. They are divided into two batches, each consisting of two Imager satellites and one Sounder satellite. The first batch is being launched from 2022-2026 and the second from 2032 to 2036 to ensure data continuity and to prove ready backups if one satellite should fail.
All MTG satellites are built on the same satellite platform but differ primarily in instrumentation. The two sounder satellites carry a large Infrared Sounder, which produces 3D temperature, humidity, wind, and composition maps of the atmosphere. Imager satellites carry a Flexible Combined Imager (FCI) and Lightning Imager . The FCI can produce a full disk image of the Earth every 10 minutes or a focused image of Europe and North Africa every 2.5 minutes. It also captures 16 spectral bands (frequency ranges of light) across both visible light and the infrared, compared to Meteosat Second Generation’s 12 and the original generation’s 3. The Lightning Lmager views approximately 80% of the visible disk using 4 sensor heads, taking snapshots 1000 times every second. With a resolution of 10km, this data can be used to assess storm intensity, predict strengthening, and help local weather authorities issue lightning alerts to protect the public.
Space Scout had the opportunity to speak to the Meteosat Third Generation Project Manager, James Champion in advance of the launch about what MTG means to him and what part excites him the most.
There have been so many, incredible moments, challenges, ups and downs throughout my journey with the Meteosat Third Generation Project, both technical and non-technical, that it’s hard to pick one favourite moment to talk about … But of course, there are exciting parts that need to be mentioned and highlighted …
Having now put over 15 years of blood, sweat and tears into the MTG Project, there are many events that bring back good memories but there are several key moments during the launch campaign of the first MTG Satellite, MTG-I1, which really stick out and stir deep emotions. From the critical Go/NoGo for the Satellite’s propellant loading to the encapsulation under the fairing, which was the last moment the Satellite was seen by human eyes, to the actual launch and separation events that were so emotional as the baby that I’d worked on for the previous 12 years was then on its way to where it would spend the rest of its life observing the Earth; it was a real moment of bon-voyage that made me recollect all the incredible moments and achievements over the previous years that were dedicated to doing everything necessary on ground to make the MTG mission a real success in space, which indeed it is proving to be!
The launch will be livestreamed on the European Space Agency YouTube channel (link), with liftoff scheduled for 4:10 PM Eastern Time/1:10 PM Pacific Time on August 27th.