At the 85th session, the EUMETSAT Council endorsed a new strategy establishing the framework for EUMETSAT activities in the next decade.
Named “Challenge 2025,” the new strategy targets the smooth transition from the current to the next generation of EUMETSAT satellite systems and responds to the “big data” challenge with a roadmap of pathfinder projects for future data services aimed at providing more and better data access services for users. The strategy also foresees a continued role of EUMETSAT in Copernicus and further cooperation with international partners.
As a first step in the implementation of the strategy “Challenge 202,5, the Council approved to move Meteosat-8 over the Indian Ocean, to 41.5 degrees East, as EUMETSAT’s best-effort contribution to multi-partner Indian Ocean Data Coverage (IODC) services involving also geostationary satellites from India, Russia and China.
The implementation of the EUMETSAT Polar System Second Generation (EPS-SG) program progressed further at this Council session, with the approval of the cooperation agreement with the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) for the development of three METimage instruments and of one important ground segment development contract covering all systems required to command and control the operations of the Metop-SG satellites from Darmstadt.
Council finally approved the Third Continuous Development and Operations Phase (CDOP 3) of EUMETSAT’s eight Satellite Application Facilities (SAF) covering the period 2017-2022. During CDOP-3, the SAFs will continue to deliver and enhance the current set of operational environmental products and develop new products, including “Day 1” products from MTG and EPS-SG.