After the Meteosat Third Generation Imager 1 (MTG-I1) launched on December 13 from Ariane5, it has finally deployed its communication wings to send the first signals.
MTG-I1 will become fully operational towards the end of 2023 and will follow the establishment of the MTG constellation with two imagers and “a sounder satellite allows meteorologists, for the first time, to follow from space the entire life cycle of convective storms – from the initial instability of the atmosphere to lightning strikes.”
The Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) program consists of 6 satellites: 4 imaging satellites (MTG-I) and 2 atmospheric sounders (MTG-S). “The third-generation Meteosat program is the most complex and innovative geostationary weather system ever built. It will make possible to monitor in near real time the different atmospheric conditions (humidity, temperature, dynamic behaviour…) and terrestrial conditions at a very fine resolution. These two types of satellites will provide at least 50 times more data than the current satellite programme." Meteo France
The Meteosat Third Generation Imager (MTG-I) satellites carry two brand-new instruments that will provide high-quality data to improve weather forecasting:
— Flexible Combined Imager that provides a complete picture of the Earth every 10 minutes with a fast mode at 2.5 minutes
— Lightning Imager from Europe is equipped with a 1000 x 1170 pixel detector. The spatial resolution is 4.5 km. It is the first European lightning detector in orbit.
— DCS (Data Colection System) and GEOSAR (GEOstationarySearch & Rescue) for data collection from remote scientific beacons, as well as search and rescue by emergency beacon detection.
The Lightning Imager offers a whole new capability for European weather satellites. It will continuously monitor more than 80% of the Earth's disk for lightning discharges.
The complete MTG system will span more than 20 years and will therefore include six satellites, four MTG-I and two sounding satellites, MTG-S.
The need for improved weather forecasting was considered as a priority at ESA and European level, while loss and damage was estimated at more than €500 billion and between 85,000 and 145,000 people death between 1980 and 2020.
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