Europe’s latest Meteosat Third Generation Imager satellite, MTG-I2, was launched on an Ariane 6 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on Thursday night, completing the first trio of MTG weather satellites in orbit.
The launch took place at 22:11 CEST (17:11 local time) on 27 August, on Ariane 6 flight VA270, the European Space Agency said in a statement on Friday.
MTG-I2 is designed to provide data for weather forecasting over Europe and northern Africa, including high-resolution images of the atmosphere every 2.5 minutes.
The satellite will also support early warning services and help track wildfires and atmospheric pollution.
The MTG constellation now has three satellites in orbit, with the first two already commissioned and handed over to Eumetsat — the European organisation that runs operational weather satellites — for day-to-day service.
The first MTG-Imager satellite was launched in 2022, followed by the MTG-Sounder last year.
Images and lightning detection from 36,000km up
MTG-I2 will operate in geostationary orbit about 36,000km above Earth, where it stays over the same point as the planet rotates, according to ESA.
It carries two imaging instruments, including the Flexible Combined Imager, which will provide rapid scans over Europe every 2.5 minutes.
The second instrument is the Lightning Imager, which can detect individual lightning events day and night.
After launch, MTG-I2 separated from the rocket and teams established communication with the spacecraft via the Malindi ground station.
Engineers will carry out orbit-raising manoeuvres over the next two weeks or so before commissioning begins.
This was the ninth Ariane 6 launch and the first time the rocket delivered a satellite to geostationary transfer orbit — an initial path used to reach geostationary orbit.
MTG satellites are developed by ESA and, once commissioned, are operated by Eumetsat, which also distributes the data.
