27509 - METEOSAT-8 (MSG-1)

MSG 1 (Meteosat Second Generation 1) is a European (EUMETSAT consortium) geostationary weather satellite that was launched by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou at 22:45 UT on 2002 August 28. The cylindrical, 2-ton satellite will enable quicker and more accurate weather forecasts in Europe than in the past, after first parking over 10 degrees E longitude for six months and later moving to zero degree longitude. It carries two major instruments.
SEVIRI (Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infra-Red Imager) is a 12-channel imager that will provide a set of surface and cloud-cover images every 15 minutes at a spatial resolution of 1 km. Four of the channels are in cloud- and soil-reflected visible wavelengths, four infrared channels will measure temperature of clouds and sea-surface, and the remaining four infrared channels will provide water vapor, ozone and carbon dioxide contents.

GERB (Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget) measures the radiation coming from the Sun and the reflected/emitted radiation from the Earth to obtain the radiation balance.

Raw data from both instruments will be directly downlinked to Darmstadt, Germany. The processed data will be uplinked to the same satellite to be rebroadcast to Europe and other regions.

Besides those two instruments, it carries receivers for weather-data from remote/mobile sites, and a 406 MHz transponder for search-and-rescue SOS operations conducted by the global COSPAS-Surat organization.

Alternate Names

Meteosat 8
Meteosat Second Generation 1

Facts in Brief

Launch Date: 2002-08-28
Launch Vehicle: Ariane 5G
Launch Site: Kourou, French Guiana
Mass: 2000.0 kg