The second of the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) satellites and the first instrument for the Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission are ready for liftoff at Cape Canaveral in Florida, US. Live coverage of this launch will be shown on ESA WebTV, on Tuesday, 1 July.
The live coverage is scheduled to start at 21:15 CEST. Launch with SpaceX on Falcon 9 is expected at 23:03 CEST.
Both MTG and Copernicus Sentinel-4 are world-class Earth observation missions developed with European partners to address scientific and societal challenges, such as air pollution and extreme weather events. While the MTG-Sounder (MTG-S1) will provide improved data for weather forecasting and storm detection, Sentinel-4 will enhance air quality monitoring over Europe.
About MTG-S1
The MTG mission already has one satellite in orbit — the MTG-Imager (MTG-I) — so MTG-S will be the second MTG satellite to launch. Its Infrared Sounder uses interferometric techniques to capture data on temperature, humidity, wind and trace gases that are used to generate 3D maps of the atmosphere, improving the accuracy of MTG’s weather prediction.
The Infrared Sounder will be the first hyperspectral sounding instrument placed in geostationary orbit by a European-led mission. It will be positioned about 36,000 km above the equator and will maintain its position relative to Earth, following the same area on the planet’s surface as we rotate. It will provide coverage of Europe and part of northern Africa on a repeat cycle of 15 minutes, providing meteorologists with a complete weather picture of the region, complementing data on cloud formation and lightning from MTG-I.
About Copernicus Sentinel-4
The MTG-S satellite hosts the Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission by carrying the ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared light (UVN) spectrometer that captures data every hour to monitor air quality and pollution, also over Europe and northern Africa.
The spectrometer delivers high-resolution data on gases that affect the quality of the air we breathe, including a wide range of atmospheric trace gases and pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulphur dioxide and formaldehyde.
Thanks to its fixed position in geostationary orbit on board MTG-S, Sentinel-4 will be able to deliver data every 60 minutes during daylight to support the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service for rapid forecasting. The mission will complement the Sentinel-5 and Sentinel-5P missions, which provide daily observations of the Earth from their polar orbits.
Sentinel-4 is the European contribution to the global constellation of geostationary air quality sensors. It will work alongside the Korean sensor Gems, observing air pollution over Asia, and NASA sensor Tempo, measuring air pollution over North America.
Thales Alenia Space was the prime contractor for the overall MTG mission, with OHB Systems responsible for the MTG-Sounder. The prime contractor for Sentinel-4 is Airbus Defence and Space. Mission control and data distribution for both MTG-S and Sentinel-4 will be managed by Eumetsat.