Successful Launch of Europe's New Weather Satellite
Darmstadt, 29 August 2002
* Ariane-5 launches MSG 1 into orbit
* Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) enables more precise weather forecasts
* Astrium has built the spacecraft’s “eye”: the Seviri radiometer
Europe has a new weather satellite. On August 29, at 0:45 a.m. (CET), the first satellite of the Meteosat Second Generation MSG 1 was launched on board an Ariane 5 booster from the launch facilities in Kourou, French Guyana. Together with MSG 1, the telecommunications satellite Atlantic Bird 1 was placed into the geosynchronous transfer orbit. From there, MSG 1 will be manoeuvred into its geostationary orbit at an altitude of 36,000 kilometres. Astrium built the main measuring instrument on board the new weather satellite – the Seviri (Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager) radiometer. In addition to Seviri, Astrium delivered the subsystems for power supply, attitude and orbit control and propulsion.
“The Seviri instrument will once again enhance the precision and reliability of short-term weather forecasts”, states Evert Dudok, Head of Astrium’s Earth Observation, Navigation & Science Business Division. The new instrument is more powerful than the predecessor model aboard the first Meteosat generation, which was also built by Astrium. The old radiometers recorded three spectral channels, i.e. visible light, infrared and water vapour. Seviri records the radiation in twelve different channels of the electromagnetic spectrum. Thus, it offers meteorologists a considerably more differentiated database for numeric weather forecast models.
However, Seviri not only delivers more precise data but also provides the data more frequently. Compared to the telescopes of the first Meteosat generation, which produced a satellite image every 30 minutes, Seviri supplies an image every 15 minutes. This supports meteorologists in evaluating short-term weather developments.
The Meteosat Second Generation fleet consists of three satellites to be launched into space at 18-month intervals, i.e. five years. As with the first Meteosat generation, only one satellite, the so-called primary satellite, is active. This satellite is deployed in a geostationary orbit above the intersection point between the zero meridian and the equator. The other satellite is in a stand-by position to take over operations in case of an emergency.
Once in space, MSG 1 will initially be in the stand-by position at ten longitudinal degrees west of the seventh and last first-generation Meteosat which will still serve as the primary satellite for the next six months. Then, the two satellites will switch positions and MSG 1 will start operating as the primary satellite above the Gulf of Guinea, west of Equatorial Africa. One and a half years after the launch of MSG 1, the second MSG satellite will be launched into orbit so that both the primary and the standby satellites are of the second generation. MSG 3 will follow four years later or as required. The MSG satellite has an expected lifetime of seven years. All together, the three satellites are to provide Europe with weather data for at least twelve years. The Meteosat fleet is operated by Eumetsat, the European 18-member-state organisation for satellite-based meteorology.
Astrium is a joint venture owned 75 per cent by EADS European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company and 25 per cent by BAE SYSTEMS. In 2001, Astrium had a turnover of 1.9 billion euros with 8,400 employees in France, Germany, U.K. and Spain. Astrium is currently refocusing on its satellite business activities covering civil and military telecommunications, Earth observation, science and navigation programmes, avionics and equipment.
Darmstadt, 28th August 2002/02034
For further information:
Astrium GmbH
Press & Information
Hendrik Thielemann
Tel. +49 7545 8 4503
Fax +49 7545 8 5589
E-mail: presse-de@astrium-space.com
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