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Satnews Daily
May 7th, 2015

EUMETSAT’s Meteosat Second Generation (MSG-4) Ships To Arianespace For July 2, 2015 Launch 


[SatNews] The MSG series of geostationary satellites is vital to ensure the safety of lives, property and infrastructure, through its critical value for the nowcasting of high impact weather. They are operated as a two-satellite system providing both full disc imagery over Europe and Africa every 15 minutes and rapid scan imagery over Europe only every five minutes.


Artist's impression of MSG-4

MSG-4 will be stored in orbit after launch and commissioning. As Meteosat-11, it will ultimately bridge the gap between Meteosat-10 (launched in 2012) and the first MTG satellites, expected to be launched in 2019 and 2021.

Once operational, MSG-4 (Meteosat-11) will also expand the 35-year climate records accumulated by the Meteosat series since 1981.

MSG-4 is the last of the MSG satellites resulting from the successful cooperation model with the European Space Agency (ESA), which is responsible for the development of satellites fulfilling user and system requirements defined by EUMETSAT and for the procurement of recurrent satellites on its behalf. EUMETSAT develops the ground systems required to deliver products and services to users and to respond to their evolving needs. It also procures all launch services and operates the full system for the benefit of users.

All MSG satellites are manufactured by a European consortium led by Thales Alenia Space.