The complete MetOp family now in orbit

On 7 November MetOp-C was successfully launched onboard a Soyuz rocket from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana. This polar-orbit satellite will collect fundamental numerical data for weather forecasting services. MetOp-C will also guarantee transition to the Eumetsat Polar System (EPS) second generation.

GMV’s input to this mission is noteworthy. It holds responsibility for development of the Mission Planning System and Flight Dynamic System. Under this remit it has seen to the ground development, testing and verification of the processor of the GRAS (Global Navigation Satellite System Receiver for Atmospheric Sounding) and GOME-2 (Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2) instruments of the EPS program to assess instrument performance and validate operational processors.

GMV is also giving engineering and operational support to EUMETSAT in the areas of flight dynamics, mission planning and control centers. It likewise offers support in the development and maintenance not only of LAND SAF for Portugal’s Meteorology Agency but also NOWCASTING SAF for Spain’s State Meteorology Agency (Agencia Estatal de Meteorología: AEMET).

Metop-C is the third member of the MetOp family of meteorological satellites, after its forerunners MetOp-A (2006) and MetOp-B (2012). They were originally designed and conceived for sequential launch, each one then to be replaced by its successor, but the sheer quality of the first ones has enabled the whole system to continue working flat out.

The three satellites are made up by a solar array and two main modules: the Payload Module (PLM) and the Service Module (SVM). They also carry onboard instruments of France’s Space Agency (CNES) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as part of Europe’s contribution to the multi-satellite system shared with this US administration.

ESA and EUMETSAT hold joint responsibility for these circumpolar meteorological satellites, which make up EPS’s space segment. The MetOp satellites, together with METEOSAT’s geostationary satellites, represent the two mainstays of Europe’s meteorological observation satellites, operated by the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites EUMETSAT.