Ibadan, 15 December 2022. – EUMETSAT has announced the successful launch of its Meteosat Third Generation-Imager 1 (MTG-I1) from the European Space Centre in Kourou. As a result, EUMETSAT Director-General Phil Evans said the successful launch of MTG-I1 was a critical milestone for the organization, bringing the goal of delivering essential data from the satellite’s instruments to meteorologists one step closer.
The Director-General also enjoined all the stakeholders to recognize the fundamental importance of the goal, noting that “the MTG system will help meteorologists meet one of their main challenges – the timely forecasting of severe weather events – to enable citizens, civil authorities and first responders to take appropriate action. In addition, Evans opined that the MTG will help protect lives, property, and infrastructure and bring economic benefits to Europe and Africa.
Evans also acknowledged the commitment of teams at EUMETSAT, the European Space Agency (ESA), and its industrial partners, who have worked on MTG for two decades now, to bring EUMETSAT to this point. “Now, we are working with Telespazio, which is responsible for guiding the satellite to its geostationary orbit, 36,000km above the Equator,” He added.
The Director-General noted that the successful launch represents the start of the next exciting chapter in EUMETSAT’s Meteosat story. EUMETSAT will consequently carefully calibrate the satellite’s instruments and validate its data over the next 12 months. After this, EUMETSAT will begin disseminating the operational data to its member states and beyond.
“MTG-I1 will produce more precise data faster than the Meteosat Second Generation satellites have been able to. With the Lightning Imager on board, it will produce new data of great importance for community and aviation safety. This really is the start of a new era in weather forecasting,” concluded the Director-General.
