Following its arrival at Cape Canaveral harbour, US, the Meteosat Third Generation Sounder (MTG-S1) satellite, with the Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission on board, has been rolled out of its shipment container, which kept it protected throughout its two-week voyage from Bremen across the Atlantic Ocean.
Now safely in the cleanroom at Astrotech facilities, all equipment has been thoroughly inspected and then switched on to ensure all was well after transit. Over the next weeks, the teams will prepare these world-class Earth Observation missions for liftoff planned in July.
MTG-S1’s sounder will be the first hyperspectral sounding instrument to be 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 it rotates below. 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 its sibling MTG-I.
The MTG-S1 satellite hosts the Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission, which is an ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared light spectrometer that captures data every hour to monitor air quality and pollution over Europe and North Africa.