The MSG-3 satellite was successfully launched from Kourou, European Space Center in French Guiana, on July 5th, at 22:36 TUC (18:36:07 local time in Kourou), aboard a rocket Ariane-5, to replace Meteosat-8 and ensure continuity of operational services from geostationary orbit.
Meteosat has a geostationary orbit, which allows it to cover the European and African continents and parts of the Atlantic and Indian Ocean, where tropical cyclones develop.
The Meteosat geostationary satellites also provide unique observational data for numerical weather forecasting models, complementing those provided by the polar orbiting MetOp satellites, with more than 30 years of weather data being accumulated.
Together with Meteosat-9, the MSG-3, future Meteosat-10, will form the system of two Second Generation Meteosat satellites that support meteorologists in their tasks, mainly in nowcasting. Tasks that involve detecting and monitoring the rapid development of high-impact phenomena, such as storms or fog, and, among others, issuing the respective warnings.
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