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

36 000 km altitude

Latest news

Explore

[ Earth Observation Programmes ]

ARCHIVE CONTENT: 22 APR. 2022

Earth from Space: Earth Day

Each year on 22 April, people across the planet join forces to raise awareness about the depleting quality of the environment, the unequivocal effects of climate change and the importance of protecting our planet for future generations. We celebrate Earth Day every day at ESA. This week, this spectacular image of Earth is brought to you by the Meteosat Second Generation series of missions.

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[ Sentinel-4 ]

ARCHIVE CONTENT: 11 JUL. 2011

Astrium to build ESA's Sentinel-4 atmospheric sensors

ESA today awarded a contract worth almost €150 million to Astrium to develop and build two satellite sensors that will monitor Earth's atmosphere as part of Europe's Global Monitoring for Environment and Security programme.

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[ Earth Observation Programmes ]

ARCHIVE CONTENT: 08 MAR. 2019

New observations for the new economy

We all listen to weather forecasts and know they rely on satellite data. What may not be so obvious is that many other aspects of our lives depend on robust satellite data, from growing crops to tackling the major issue of climate change. The socio-economic benefits of Earth observation are huge, and increasing. In Europe, ESA, Eumetsat and the EU work closely together, in long-term partnerships, to make sure these benefits are delivered.

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[ Meteosat ]

ARCHIVE CONTENT: 21 NOV. 2012

About Meteosat Third Generation

The MTG series will comprise four imaging and two sounding satellites. The MTG-I imaging satellites will carry the Flexible Combined Imager (FCI) and the Lightning Imager. The MTG-S sounding satellites – a first for Meteosat – will carry an Infrared Sounder (IRS) and an Ultraviolet Visible Near-Infrared spectrometer, which will be provided by ESA as the Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission.

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