Overview

• Metop-SGA1 lifted off on an Ariane-6 rocket from Kourou and successfully deployed its solar arrays in an 830 kilometer polar orbit.
• Teams will spend roughly a year commissioning, calibrating and cross-checking its six instruments before the first operational data flow begins.
• Onboard instruments include METImage for high-resolution cloud, water vapor and ice observations and Sentinel-5 for detailed atmospheric composition monitoring.
• The satellite’s polar global coverage will work alongside the recently launched MTG-S1 geostationary asset to improve forecasts from very short term out to twelve days.
• Major components were built by European industry, notably Airbus facilities in Friedrichshafen and Ottobrunn, to strengthen weather resilience and early warning capabilities.