Overview
- MTG‑I2 launched from Kourou on an Ariane 6 and is currently in transfer toward its geostationary slot with orbital insertion and commissioning expected to take about ten days.
- The new satellite completes the three‑ship Meteosat Third Generation system, joining the first Imager (MTG‑I1) and the Sounder (MTG‑S1) to operate as a coordinated constellation over Europe and North Africa.
- MTG‑I2 carries a high‑resolution Flexible Combined Imager that will provide images every 2.5 minutes, a Lightning Imager that detects individual strikes day and night, and a spectrometer to supply Sentinel‑4 air‑pollution data.
- National weather services expect faster warnings because the higher cadence gives a near‑continuous “film” of storms; the German Weather Service says this could allow detection of thunderstorm development about fifteen minutes earlier.
- The 3.8‑tonne satellite was built for EUMETSAT by ESA with major hardware from OHB in Bremen, has a planned life of more than ten years, and paves the way for further MTG‑class launches starting in the early 2030s.