MSG Frequently Asked Questions

What does MSG mean?
Meteosat Second Generation has been chosen as the name for the new family of Meteorological Satellites. Twenty-five years after the rollout of the first meteorological satellite in 1977, some six other Meteosats later, MSG is now a completely new series of geostationary meteorological satellites with three pieces already being produced and others that may follow within the next decade.

What is the difference between MSG and Meteosat?
MSG's multi-wavelength camera, called SEVIRI, builds up images of the Earth’s surface and cloud cover in 12 different wavelengths once every 15 minutes, compared with three wavelengths once every 30 minutes for the camera on former Meteosat. The images are also sharper - the smallest to be 'seen' is 1 km in the visible and 3 km in the infrared compared with 2.5 km / 5 km for Meteosat. Additionally, MSG carries a scientific instrument to watch the Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) and a transponder for international S&R operations. This difference justifies the name "second generation".

Why has MSG been constructed?
Meteosat is based on a series that was started 25 years ago by the European Space Agency. Today, after many years of evaluation, ESA has developed, adjusted and made available the most sophisticated state of the art technology for Meteosat Second Generation. This helps in providing more accurate weather forecast and adds on new climate research options.

Who participates in the MSG programme?
The Meteosat Second Generation programme is a joint project signed in 1994 between the European Space Agency and Eumetsat, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, which is based in Darmstadt, Germany.

ESA has contributed to and developed the first satellite, MSG-1, and procures MSG-2, MSG-3 and MSG-4 on behalf of Eumetsat. ESA has placed a contract with Alcatel Space Industries, France, to build the first three satellites. More than 50 sub-contractors from 13 European countries are involved.

The GERB experiment is provided outside this consortium by the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (UK). The ESA MSG project team is based at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), in Noordwijk, the Netherlands while the Eumetsat MSG Program is located at Darmstadt, Germany.

How much did MSG cost?
The cost of the first satellite accounts to €475 million. ESA is contributing two thirds of the cost of MSG-1 through an optional programme in which 13 of the Agency’s member states participate. Eumetsat is contributing one third of the cost of MSG-1.

The MSG programme accounts to €1.3 billion in total including the launchers, the MSG-2 and -3 satellites, the ground segment and the operations for 12 years, entirely covered by Eumetsat.

Does MSG watch the entire world?
MSG covers over about one quarter of the globe, with its image centre above the Gulf of Guinea (West Africa) at zero degrees. The picture reaches out from East Canada over Greenland to Siberia, down over West India and the Arab Peninsula and covers Europe and Africa in full resolution.

How does MSG work?
The operating principle of the SEVIRI instrument is based on collecting radiation from a target area and focusing it on detectors sensitive to 12 different bands of the electromagnetic spectrum by means of a telescope. This radiation information is converted into electromagnetic signal by detectors, which can be easily sent down to the receiving station on Earth.

MSG transmits this raw atmospheric data to the Eumetsat control and processing centre in Darmstadt, via the primary ground station, for processing. Once processed, these data will be added to other processed data, collected on ships, balloons, aircraft and ground–based platforms. All data are sent back to the satellite, which has also a broadcasting transponder on board.

Who can receive the data?
To receive data or 'products', users must register with Eumetsat and equip themselves with an appropriate receiving station. The design of the communications package on board MSG is sophisticated enough to cope with the enormous volume of data and the multiple paths it needs to transfer information between ground facilities, satellite and users.

Who will pay for the services?
MSG's processed data are marketed by Eumetsat to all interested users and to weather services worldwide. Eumetsat is a fully independent organisation with 17 Member States.

What is the major benefit from MSG?
Weather forecasts using MSG information should be more accurate, as data are collected twice as often as before and in spectral resolution three times higher than with Meteosat. The quality and the availability of data is the key to either better or longer term forecast of the weather. The higher optical resolution of the MSG instrument SEVIRI will contribute to higher accuracy and to a more detailed regional weather forecast.

The climate research instrument GERB will provide new long term data, which can help to evaluate climate models. However, GERB is mainly for scientific purpose.

How accurate will the MSG picture be?
The resolution of the new SEVIRI camera is 1 by 1 km in the visible light spectrum and 3 by 3 Km in the infrared. This is respectively three times and twice as much as its predecessors Meteosat could deliver.

When was MSG launched?
The launch of MSG-1 took place in August 2002. MSG-1 was one of two satellites launched on an Ariane-5 from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guinea.

What happens with the current Meteosat?
Actually, Meteosat 7 is operational at 0 degrees. When finishing operations, this last Meteosat will be shifted into graveyard orbit and then remain there as a non-functional satellite. At this time, MSG will be transferred to its final operational orbit at 0°/0° for its designed lifetime of at least seven years.

Who will operate MSG?
Immediately after launch MSG was operated by the European Space Operations Centre ESOC, an ESA facility in Darmstadt (Germany), immediately after launch. About two months later, Eumetsat took over the control of the satellite and data management of MSG from its operations centre, also located in Darmstadt. Eumetsat will be responsible for MSG-1 and its successors MSG-2, -3 and -4.

What, if MSG doesn't work?
In case of any problem with the satellite, either due to launch failure or operational limitations, the current Meteosat-7 remains available and operational. The next MSG-2, -3 and -4 are already in construction and can be launched right in time, before the lifetime of Meteosat expires. No lack of data from the Meteosat network is expected.

How long will MSG operate?
MSG is designed for an average lifetime of at least seven years. Due to the extremely harsh space environment, satellites and their instruments are not able to "live" forever. The amount of propellant, needed for orbital control and shifts, is limited, too. This is why every satellite is suited for a minimum lifetime, which indeed is mostly exceeded by far.

Do other states operate similar satellites?
Yes. Besides the Member States of ESA and Eumetsat, Russia, the United States, India, China and Japan operate their own weather satellites. Nominally eight operational meteorological satellites in geostationary orbit and other eight in low Earth orbit watch the globe’s weather. The World Meteorological Organisation, a specialised agency of the United Nations (Geneva) co-ordinates the world-wide meteorological data exchange on the basis of international agreements. MSG is also contributing to this mutual benefit.

What does GERB mean?
The Earth Radiation Budget (ERB) is the balance between the radiation coming from the Sun and the outgoing reflected and scattered solar radiation, plus thermal infrared emissions, to space. The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) experiment contributes to climate change studies by measuring the amount of radiation arriving on Earth from the Sun and the amount leaving as heat, and scattered and reflected solar radiation.

After a one-year feasibility study was carried out under ESA contract in 1993, a consortium led by the United Kingdom, with Italy and Belgium as partners, proposed flying such an instrument on MSG.

At the core of the GERB instrument is a broad-band, three mirror telescope housed in the Instrument Optical Unit. This views the Earth with a black wide-band detector array, providing measurements of the Earth's output radiation in a total band, and a short-wave band. The long-wave band is obtained by subtraction.

What is the S&R instrument doing?
MSG also includes a transponder to receive and transmit SOS messages at 406 MHz to a central reception station in Europe, from which they can be sent to the appropriate rescue organisations.

Search and Rescue (S&R) transmitters are obligatory parts of ships or aircrafts and are often used by alpine hikers or stations in remote areas. In case of emergency, the transmitter sends an SOS signal on the international S&R frequency 406 MHz. Once the signal is received by transponders in space or on the ground, rescue operations can be started, following the source of the signal.

This system is operated by COSPAS-Sarsat organisation which achieves global coverage by having several search and rescue transponders on geostationary and other satellites. According to COSPAS figures, since 1982, more than 11,000 people have been rescued worldwide with the system.