This poster includes a fantastic composite view created from image data gathered by Meteosat-3 and -4 on 16 May 1993.
Since 1972, Europe's Meteosat satellites have been sending pictures of the weather back to Earth for viewing by millions on daily TV weather bulletins. Their position in geostationary orbit at 0 degrees longitude has given them an unprecedented view of the weather over Europe, Africa and the eastern Atlantic. The images have contributed to an enormous improvement in the accuracy of medium-range weather forecasts over these regions.
Meteosat can lay claim to a number of firsts. Initiated in 1972 by ESA's predecessor, the European Space Research Organisation, it was the agency's first applications programme. Meteosat-1, launched in 1977, was Europe's first meteorological satellite and Meteosat-2 was launched in 1981 on one of the qualification flights of Ariane-1 from Kourou, French Guiana. Meteosat-3, the last of the pre-operational satellites, was launched in 19898 while Meteosat-4 was launched in March 1989.
In 1983, with the pre-operational programme well underway, plans were drawn up for the Meteosat Operational Programme (MOP). The decision was taken to create a new organisation, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (Eumetsat), to run the programme. The operational programme involved building Meteosats-4, -5 and -6 (also called MOP 1, 2 and 3) for launch in 1989, 1991 and 1993 respectively. ESA's role changed from one of development and programme definition to satellite procurement and housekeeping on behalf of Eumetsat.
Meteosat-7, the last satellite in the first-generation series, was launched in 1997. It is part of the Meteosat Transition Programme (MTP); Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) is an upgraded series of satellites employing state of the art technology, which continued the fine tradition of the first series, but with improved data gathering capabilities. MSG-1 was launched in 2002 and MSG-2 in 2005.
Meteosat-3 and -4 were controlled by ESA's Operations team from ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany.
More information: Meteosat.
Note: hi-res PDF download file is very large! Please be patient while file is transferred.