ESA - meteosat third generation

ESA title

The mission

Building on the long-standing partnership between ESA and Eumetsat, Meteosat Third Generation will guarantee the continuity of data for weather forecasting from geostationary orbit for the next two decades. The full MTG system is based on a series of two types of satellite: four MTG-Imagers and two MTG-Sounders.

Launches

MTG-I1: 13 December 2022 from Kourou, French Guiana on Ariane 5
MTG-I2: Summer 2026 from Kourou, French Guiana on Ariane 6

MTG-S1: 1 July 2025 from Cape Canaveral, Florida on SpaceX Falcon 9

6 satellite system
4 Imager satellites
2 Sounder satellites
20-year operational life

meteosat third generation

MTG-I2 was taken out of its protective casing at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana

Unpacking Europe’s new weather imagers

07/07/2026 1293 views 26 likes

Press Release N° 33–2026

Call for interest: MTG-I2 launch media programme at Europe’s Spaceport

Media representatives are invited to express their interest in attending the media programme for the launch of the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) Imager weather satellite, MTG-I2, at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

02/07/2026 1114 views

FLEX, Sentinel-3C and MTG-I2 on show at TAS cleanrooms

Three ESA-built satellites on show in France

16/04/2026 3820 views 59 likes

Medicane Jolina from MSG

Getting to the core of a medicane

27/03/2026 4970 views 45 likes

MTG-I2 pushed into place for final environmental tests

Next MTG satellite passes final environmental tests

27/03/2026 854 views 20 likes

Press Release N° 13–2026

Media invitation: three innovative European weather and climate satellites in the cleanroom

Journalists are invited to a one-off opportunity to see three ESA-built satellites in their final preparations before liftoff.

11/03/2026 1433 views

Global air humidity by MTG-Sounder

Europe’s next-generation weather satellite sends back first…

27/01/2026 89030 views 88 likes

MTG-S1 and Sentinel-4 inside Falcon 9

Media invitation: MTG-S1 and Sentinel-4 pre-launch briefings

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Discover Meteosat Third Generation

Meteosat Third Generation weather satellites

Introducing MTG

20900 views 36 likes

MSG-4 in orbit

Solid heritage

1299 views 2 likes

Rainy weather

Forecasting the weather

4510 views 3 likes

Cyclone Amphan making landfall over Bangladesh

Weathering the storm

1678 views 3 likes

Observing fast-evolving weather with MTG

Satellite constellation

3752 views 18 likes

FCI at Test Centre

Flexible Combined Imager

7978 views 26 likes

MTG to monitor lightning

Lightning Imager

14102 views 17 likes

Meteosat Third Generation Sounder up close

Infrared Sounder

4092 views 8 likes

Testing MTG imager

Facts and figures

3528 views 14 likes

MTG-I and MTG-S

Team talk: 10 things about Meteosat Third Generation

937 views 1 likes

MTG-Sounder satellite over the equator

Team talk: Soundbites from the cleanroom with MTG-S1

338 views 0 likes

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