The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topicMSG 3, the third of the Second Generation Meteosat satellites, is currently being prepared for its scheduled launch by Ariane 5 next June. International partners are looking forward to the newest member in a series of weather satellites that deliver images to European forecasters. MSG satellites are designed to improve weather prediction abilities. The first in the series was launched in 2002, MSG-2 followed three years later. Both have been successful in continuing the legacy of operational meteorological satellites that started with Meteosat-1 in 1977. The series returns highly detailed imagery of Europe, the North Atlantic and Africa every 15 minutes for use by meteorologists and national weather forecasters.
More background information can be found on: http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMLFM2VQUD_index_0_m.html