In August 2002, the first Meteosat Second Generation (MSG ) Satellites will be put into orbit by Ariane 5 from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou. This is the first in a series of five programmes on this satellite and its mission. It focuses on the satellite and the improvements compared to the current Meteosat satellites, of which seven have been launched since 1977.
The 5-minute A-roll contains split audio with an English guide track and is complemented by a B-roll with international sound only.

For the first time in twenty-five years, a completely new generation of European weather satellites are being placed into orbit: Meteosat Second Generation, or MSG, is equipped with the latest technology for accurate weather forecasting and climate monitoring research.
Scheduled for launch in August 2002, the first MSG satellite will take the place of the previous first-generation Meteosat satellite in orbit.
Since the late 70s, these well-known satellites have been watching the Earth from the geostationary position, 36.000 kilometres above the Equator, and have delivered more than one million weather images of the Earth - one every thirty minutes.
Meteosat has fundamentally changed the way we observe and forecast our weather. Now, the advanced instruments on board this next generation Meteosat will provide more accurate and frequent data to weather forecasters.
Unlike local data, which is delivered by weather observing stations on the ground, geostationary satellites overlook a third of the globe. Hover