Meteosat Third Generation weather satellites

To meet more than the 20-year operational life of the mission, the full Meteosat Third Generation system comprises six satellites: four Imaging (MTG-I) satellites and two Sounding (MTG-S) satellites. When fully deployed, the system will include two MTG-I satellites operating in tandem – one scanning Europe and Africa every 10 minutes and the other only Europe but every 2.5 minutes – and one MTG-S satellite to provide fast local-area coverage over selected parts of Earth. The image shows the three satellites with the two MTG-I satellites (foreground and left) and one MTG-S satellite (on the right).

The combination of MTG’s innovative instruments along with their increased resolution and sensitivity is set to take weather forecasting to the next level, particularly in the challenging task of early detection and prediction of rapidly evolving and potentially dangerous weather events such as severe thunderstorms.

The MTG-I satellites carry a Flexible Combined Imager and a Lightning Imager. The MTG-S satellites carry an Infrared Sounder and the Copernicus Sentinel-4 instrument.

MTG is a cooperation between ESA and Eumetsat. ESA is responsible for the definition and implementation of the MTG satellites and procurement of recurrent hardware, while Eumetsat is in charge of operating the spacecraft throughout its lifetime. The MTG satellites will replace the current Meteosat Second Generation operational system.