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 topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
Carrying an impressive suite of instruments, the MetOp series of satellites are among the largest Earth-observation satellites built in Europe. There are three satellites in the series, launched sequentially to ensure continuous observations for numerical weather prediction – the basis for weather forecasting. They also contribute to climate research. Orbiting from pole to pole, about 800 km above Earth’s surface, they provide detailed vertical temperature and humidity profiles, images of land, water and clouds, information for monitoring ozone in the atmosphere, measurements of wind over the ocean surface, and more. MetOp-A was launched in 2006, MetOp-B in 2012 and MetOp-C is set for liftoff in November 2018. The MetOp satellites were developed by ESA under a cooperation agreement to form the space segment of the Eumetsat Polar System. This system is Europe’s contribution to a multi-orbit polar system shared with the US NOAA agency.