Europe's newest Meteosat launches on Solstice Night (Forwarded)

ESA News
http://www.esa.int

21 December 2005

Europe's newest Meteosat launches on Solstice Night

The second member of Europe's new generation of weather satellites has
successfully been lifted onto orbit, continuing an uninterrupted series of
launch successes since 1977.

This ninth Meteosat satellite, developed on behalf of EUMETSAT under the
aegis of the European Space Agency, will reinforce EUMETSAT's capacity to
monitor the Earth atmosphere above Europe, Africa, the Middle-East and the
Atlantic Ocean.

MSG-2 (2nd flight model of Meteosat Second Generation) was one of the two
payloads of Ariane 5's latest launch. The European launch vehicle lifted
off from the Guiana Space Centre, Europe's spaceport, in Kourou, French
Guiana, at 19:33 local time on 21 December (23:33 CET [2233 UTC]).

The Ariane 5GS vehicle successfully delivered its two passenger payloads
onto a near perfect geostationary transfer orbit. The MSG-2 satellite is
now under control of ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in
Darmstadt, Germany, under a contract with EUMETSAT. In the coming days, it
will perform a series of orbital manoeuvres using its onboard propulsion
system in order to circularize its orbit at geostationary altitude.

"The successful launch of the second Meteosat satellite today reinforces
the cooperation between the European Space Agency (ESA) and EUMETSAT in
the designing and development of a series of missions devoted to
meteorology" said Volker Liebig, ESA's Director of Earth Observation
programmes.

"Two further MSG satellites, planned to be launched, will guarantee
continuity of services until around 2018. MSG- 2 improves today the
provision of essential data and information for operational weather
forecast and sustainable development" he continued.

MSG-2 is the first of three satellites based on the same design and
procured by ESA on behalf of EUMETSAT, the European weather satellite
organization, founded in 1986 and now encompassing all 17 ESA member
states plus Turkey. Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Romania, Serbia-Montenegro, Slovakia and
Slovenia are also contributing states to the organisation.

A new eye to watch our weather

The MSG satellites are designed to observe the Earth in twelve spectral
bands and to deliver pictures every 15 minutes in visible light, infrared
and at water vapour wavelength, with a ground resolution of 1 km. In all,
they are able to return 10 times more data than the satellites of the
original series.

Weighing about 2 metric tons at launch, the MSGs are twice and half
heavier than their predecessors, but about half of this mass is propellant
for reaching the operational orbit and station-keeping for about 7 years.
They keep the same drum-shaped design but at a larger scale, with a 3.22-m
diameter and a height of 3.74 m.

The payload is composed of two radiometers, SEVIRI and GERB. The Spinning
Enhanced Visible & Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) observes the Earth in 12
spectral bands in visible light and infrared and delivers a picture of the
hemisphere every 15 minutes. This allows to follow closely the development
of rapidly evolving weather phenomena like storms, blizzards and fog. Its
ground resolution in visible parts of the spectrum is 1 km, in order to
monitor highly localized events.

The Global Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) experiment measures the amount of
solar radiation reflected into space by the Earth and atmosphere,
providing vital information about global climate change.

Besides these two instruments, MSG satellites carry a comprehensive
communications payload for satellite operation, data communication and
user data dissemination. It also includes a Search and Rescue transponder
to relay distress signals from ships, aircraft and others in peril to the
emergency services.

Witnessing global climate change

Once in geostationary orbit, MSG-2 will undergo several months of in-orbit
commissioning before being operational. A first picture of the Earth
captured by the SEVIRI instrument should be released by late January. In
summer 2006 , MSG-2 is expected to enter operational service above the
Gulf of Guinea, at 0 degree of longitude.

Renamed Meteosat 9, it will replace Meteosat 8 as the primary satellite to
monitor the atmosphere and the climate. Meteosat 8 will be moved to 3.4
degrees West as a back-up satellite in order to ensure continuity of
service in any circumstance. In addition EUMETSAT still operates the
first-generation Meteosat 5, 6 and 7 satellites with an extended coverage
over the Indian Ocean.

The MSG programme was decided in 1990 as follow-on to the highly
successful original Meteosat series, with the introduction of new, more
powerful and more accurate sensors, for a continuous observation of
Earth's atmosphere. With two more satellites currently ordered, the MSG
series should provide coverage at least through 2018. This uninterrupted
monitoring lasts since the very first Meteosat satellite, which was
developed and launched by ESA in 1977. The Meteosat data are a unique
testimony on the evolution of the planet's climate over nearly three
decades and its consequences on our weather.

For further information, please contact:

ESA Media Relations Division
Tel: +33(0)1.53.69.7155
Fax: +33(0)1.53.69.7690

Special features

* Meteosat Second Generation
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/MSG/index.html
* MSG-2 ready for launch
http://search.esa.int/queryIG.html?searchType=keyword &col=mmg &ql=a
&fl1=ContentType%3A &ty1=w &op1= &fl10=id%3A &ty10=w &op10=%7C%2B
&fl11=showcase%3A &ty11=w &op11=%7C%2B &tx11=esa00000000 &fl0= &ty0= &op0=
&tx0= &fl2= &ty2= &op2= &tx2= &fl3= &ty3= &op3= &tx3= &fl4= &ty4= &op4=
&tx4= &fl5= &ty5= &op5= &tx5= &fl6= &ty6= &op6= &tx6= &fl7= &ty7= &op7=
&tx7= &fl8= &ty8= &op8= &tx8= &fl9= &ty9= &op9= &tx9= &tipo=Video
&tx1=Video &tx10=SEMR64WLWFE &lk=9

Related news

* MSG-2 in position for tonight's launch
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/MSG/SEMRR98A9HE_0.html
* Meteosat Second Generation-2: watch the launch live
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/MSG/SEMMO3WLWFE_0.html
* Forecast good for launch of Europe's latest MSG weather satellite
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/MSG/SEMXE5ULWFE_0.html

In depth

* MSG-2 Launch Diary
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/MSG/SEM9NV5DIAE_0.html
* ESA Launchers
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Launchers_Home/index.html
* Europe's Spaceport
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Launcher...ort/index.html
* Spacecraft Operations
http://www.esa.int/spacecraftops/index.html

Related links

* Arianespace
http://www.arianespace.com
* EUMETSAT
http://www.eumetsat.int
* EUMETSAT's MSG-2 website
http://www.eumetsat.int/msg2/

[NOTE: Images supporting this release are available at
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/MSG/SEMFKC8A9HE_1.html ]