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| | | | | | | | | MSG views one quarter of Earth | |
How MSG-2 works
MSG-2 (redesignated Meteosat-9) is planned to serve as the prime operational meteorological satellite for Europe.
MSG-2 monitor a quarter of the Earth and its atmosphere from a fixed position in geostationary orbit at 0º longitude, 35 800 km above the Gulf of Guinea off the west coast of equatorial Africa. The satellite previously occupying that position, Meteosat-7, has been moved to 63 º East. Meteosat-8 will stay on standby as its 'hot' back-up at 3.4 º West.
As with the current Meteosat-8, MSG-2 transmits raw data from the SEVIRI and GERB instruments to the EUMETSAT control and processing centre in Darmstadt, Germany, via its primary ground control station in Usingen. GERB data are forwarded to the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Oxford, UK, for processing.
EUMETSAT, with support from other satellite applications facilities throughout Europe, extracts information from the processed SEVIRI data and turns it into 'products' of particular use to meteorologists and climatologists, such as wind field diagrams, maps of upper tropospheric humidity and analyses of cloud shape and height.
| | | Examples of MSG products |
These products and processed images are distributed to the users via the dedicated EUMETCast Direct Video Broadcast (DVB) service. In addition MSG-2 includes a backup communication system that can be used to distribute products and images to users across the satellite's footprint. MSG-1 had the same system but a faulty amplifier put it out of action, this fault being corrected on the subsequent MSGs.
MSG-2 also carries a transponder to detect and relay distress signals from ships and aircraft transmitted by distress beacons to an international rescue network by the Cospas-Sarsat Programme.
Last update: 3 May 2006 | |
| | Related links EUMETSATAlcatelAstrium - SEVIRIGeostationary Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (GERB)
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