MSG overview       Meteosat Second Generation artistic view         A dust storm as seen by MSG-1         A virtually cloud-free Europe captured by MSG-1         MSG-2 first colour image         A day of GERB observations       Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) is a joint project between ESA and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) and follows up the success of the first generation Meteosat weather satellite series with a larger design boasting higher performance. The first in a planned series of MSG satellites was launched in 2002, entering into service with EUMETSAT in early 2004 and now renamed Meteosat-8.     Launch 28 August 2002 from Kourou, French Guiana Launcher Ariane 5 Launch mass 2000 kg Payload mass 1000 kg Number of instruments 4 including Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager and Search&Rescue transponder Orbit Geostationary; altitude 35600 km Inclination 0 degrees Time for one orbit 24 hours Cycle not applicable     The second MSG satellite, MSG-2, was launched from Kourou, French Guiana, on 21 December 2005.       Last update: 1 February 2006  •  Meteosat Second Generation (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/MSG/index.html) Special features  •  MSG story (http://download.esa.int/Archive/wmv/msg_story1_21062002_wmplow.wmv)  •  MSG predicting extreme weather (http://download.esa.int/Archive/wmv/MSG_4_final_27062002_wmplow.wmv)  •  MSG-2 ready for launch (http://www.esa.int/esa-mmg/mmg.pl?idf=SEMR64WLWFE) Related links  •  Eumetsat (http://www.eumetsat.int)