ESA - Meteosat - Archive

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The mission

Europe’s series of Meteosat satellites has been improving the accuracy of weather forecasts for over 40 years. The first Meteosat was launched in 1977 and also goes down in history as ESA’s first Earth observation mission. From geostationary orbit, the Meteosat satellites provide a continuous stream of images of the whole Earth disc, to monitor the weather over Europe, Africa and parts of the Atlantic and Indian Ocean.

The launch

First launch: Meteosat-1 on 23 November 1977
Site: Cape Canaveral, US
Rocket: Delta 2000

11 satellites in the series
40+ yrs of imagery
36000 km altitude

Meteosat

Medicane Jolina from MSG

Getting to the core of a medicane

27/03/2026 2897 views 33 likes

Earth

Earth from Space: Earth Day

22/04/2022 51605 views 72 likes

Cloud-free Europe

New observations for the new economy

08/03/2019 10813 views 90 likes

Meteosat-1 launch

Forty years of Meteosat

22/11/2017 6921 views 113 likes

Earth seen by Meteosat

Shared vision strengthens Europe’s space strategy

08/11/2017 4948 views 46 likes

MSG-4 in orbit

ESA hands over control of the MSG-4 weather satellite

27/07/2015 6037 views 61 likes

MSG-4 liftoff

Europe’s MSG-4 weather satellite delivered into orbit

15/07/2015 14014 views 73 likes

Ariane flight VA224 on the launchpad

Enabling & Support

MSG-4 launch timeline

14/07/2015 6985 views 36 likes

Team training

Enabling & Support

ESA teams ready for Europe’s next weather satellite

09/07/2015 6058 views 44 likes

Bardarbunga plume

Bardarbunga belches

05/09/2014 13505 views 103 likes

Meteosat Third Generation

Contract signed for Meteosat Third Generation lightning ins…

07/02/2013 4449 views 23 likes

MTG agreement signed at Ministerial meeting

Meteosat Third Generation agreement signed at Ministerial m…

21/11/2012 4796 views 5 likes

Earth and Moon

Peek-a-blue Moon

03/09/2012 4588 views 17 likes

MSG-3 first image

MSG-3, Europe’s latest weather satellite, delivers first im…

07/08/2012 19275 views 16 likes

MSG enters orbit

ESA hands over weather satellite for operations

16/07/2012 1970 views 0 likes

MSG-3 launch

MSG-3 set to ensure quality of Europe’s weather service fro…

06/07/2012 2975 views 2 likes

MSG-3 ready for encapsulation in fairing

Watch online: MSG-3 launch

04/07/2012 1517 views 0 likes

ESOC control room

Enabling & Support

ESA’s mission control ready for MSG-3 launch

03/07/2012 2851 views 0 likes

MSG-3 preparations continue

Launch date of MSG-3 reset to 5 July 2012

12/06/2012 1857 views 1 likes

MSG-3 In the cleanroom

MSG-3 satellite ready to continue weather-monitoring service

07/03/2012 2077 views 3 likes

Meteosat Third Generation

A new generation of meteorological satellites

24/02/2012 7015 views 2 likes

MSG enters orbit

Enabling & Support

MSG ground controllers plug into satellite for live test

07/02/2012 2011 views 1 likes

ESA keeps watch on weather

29/09/2011 1155 views 0 likes

NO2 over Europe monitored by GOME-2

Astrium to build ESA's Sentinel-4 atmospheric sensors

11/07/2011 2853 views 4 likes

Satellite observations show potential to improve ash cloud …

26/05/2011 2307 views 0 likes

Predicted path of volcanic ash

Satellites monitor Icelandic ash plume

23/05/2011 7154 views 2 likes

MTG Industrial Days

MTG Industrial Days offer new business opportunities

01/02/2011 1543 views 0 likes

Meteosat Third Generation imager and sounder

Development of Meteosat Third Generation to start

18/11/2010 7233 views 9 likes

ESA Euronews: Tomorrow’s weather

16/04/2010 894 views 0 likes

Meteosat Third Generation imager and sounder

ESA and Thales Alenia Space enter negotiations for MTG

19/03/2010 3427 views 0 likes

Meteosat Third Generation imager and sounder

Meteosat Third Generation takes a step forward

22/02/2010 2652 views 0 likes

Meteosat-6

Weather satellite sets new service record

04/02/2010 1647 views 0 likes

Dr Prahm and Dr Liebig at the Council meeting

Meteosat Third Generation on track

07/12/2007 1494 views 0 likes

Meteosat-1 first image

ESA celebrates 30 years of Meteosat

22/11/2007 382 views 0 likes

ESOC Main Control Room (MCR)

Enabling & Support

ESA to provide essential launch control services to EUMETSAT

06/11/2007 2637 views 0 likes

Some of the first MSG-2 images

First images from GERB

01/02/2006 2045 views 0 likes

MSG-2 first colour image

MSG-2 first images

26/01/2006 2660 views 6 likes

MSG artist's view

MSG-2 commissioning begins

03/01/2006 2089 views 2 likes

Ariane 5 lift off

Europe’s newest Meteosat launches on Solstice Night

21/12/2005 2050 views 0 likes

MSG-2 launch diary

21/12/2005 1090 views 0 likes

Liftoff of Ariane 5G carrying MSG-2

MSG-2 launched

21/12/2005 1075 views 0 likes

Launcher Ariane 5 ready for liftoff

MSG-2 in position for tonight's launch

21/12/2005 1006 views 0 likes

A day of GERB observations

MSG-2 will advance long-term monitoring of Earth's energy b…

20/12/2005 1146 views 0 likes

MSG-2 mission controllers

ESOC gears up for MSG-2 launch

19/12/2005 870 views 0 likes

MSG-2 dry weighing

Meteosat Second Generation-2: watch the launch live

14/12/2005 1408 views 0 likes

MSG-2 unwrapped

Forecast good for launch of Europe's latest MSG weather sat…

21/11/2005 1206 views 0 likes

MSG-2 installation on the trolley

MSG-2 now planned for launch towards year's end

16/08/2005 816 views 0 likes

MSG-2 controllers in simulation for LEOP. Flight Director John Dodsworth is in blue shirt at right.

Enabling & Support

MSG-2 flight controllers train for launch

29/06/2005 948 views 0 likes

A year of European solar radiation

Sunshine mapping from space means brighter solar energy fut…

29/06/2005 2486 views 1 likes

Meteosat-8 imagery of West African dust storm

New competition for young meteorologists

09/11/2004 485 views 0 likes

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