MSG-3 successfully launched
2012-07-09 (IM)
On the 5th July, at 23:36:07 CEST (18:36:07 Kourou time), MSG-3 was successfully launched from Kourou, Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, on an Ariane-5 launcher to replace the ageing Meteosat-8 and secure continuity of the operational services from the geostationary orbit.
Alain Ratier, EUMETSAT’s Director-General, said, “Together with Meteosat-9, MSG-3, the future Meteosat-10, will form the two-satellite Meteosat Second Generation system that supports weather forecasters in their time-critical nowcasting tasks. This involves detecting and monitoring rapidly developing high impact phenomena like thunderstorms or fog and issuing related warnings”.
The Meteosat service from geostationary orbit covers the European and African continents and parts of the Atlantic and Indian oceans where tropical cyclones develop.
The geostationary Meteosats also provide a unique observational input to Numerical Weather Prediction models, complementing those delivered by the polar-orbiting Metop satellites, and have already accumulated more than 30 years of climate data records.
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