ESA’s Arctic Weather Satellite in environmental testing at IAGB in Ottobrunn, Germany. The tests, carried out at IABG in Germany, included positioning the satellite on a shaker to simulate the vibrations it will have to endure during liftoff, enclosing it in a thermal vacuum chamber where it was exposed to the extreme swings in temperature that it will experience as it orbits Earth, and deploying its solar array.

The Arctic Weather Satellite is equipped with a 19-channel cross-track scanning microwave radiometer, which benefits from the heritage technology of the Microwave Sounder developed for the MetOp Second Generation satellites. The instrument will provide high-resolution humidity and temperature soundings of the atmosphere in all weather conditions.

The satellite is actually the forerunner of a potential constellation of satellites, called EPS-Sterna, that ESA would build for Eumetsat if this first prototype Arctic Weather Satellite works well.