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<\/p>\nArianespace launched a new European weather satellite Tuesday, using a Soyuz rocket to deploy the Metop-C spacecraft into orbit around the Earth. Liftoff from the Centre Spatial Guyanais in Kourou, French Guiana, occurred at 21:47:27 local time (00:47 UTC on Wednesday).<\/p>\n
The Meteorological Operational (Metop) satellites are operated by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), making up the EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS). Operating in near-polar sun-synchronous orbits, Metop satellites carry a suite of instruments to study and monitor the Earth\u2019s weather.<\/p>\n
The EUMETSAT Polar System contributes to the Initial Joint Polar System (IJPS), an international partnership between EUMETSAT and the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). IJPS, which also incorporates the NOAA\u2019s Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES), sees the two agencies share data and use each other\u2019s ground stations to control their satellites and downlink data. The NOAA has also provided several of the instruments that fly aboard Metop satellites.<\/p>\n
Metop is one of two series of weather satellites operated by EUMETSAT: the organization also operates a fleet of spacecraft in higher geostationary orbits, Meteosat. EUMETSAT also partners with the European Space Agency (ESA) and European Commission on the Sentinel Earth science missions, and with ESA, NOAA and NASA on the Jason ocean research satellites.<\/p>\n
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MetOp-C during construction \u2013 via Airbus<\/p>\n
Constructed by Airbus Defence and Space \u2013 formerly EADS Astrium \u2013 the 4,084-kilogram (9,004 lb) Metop-C is based on the SPOT Mk.3 satellite bus, a platform originally developed for France\u2019s SPOT imaging spacecraft. The satellite is three-axis stabilized and uses a deployable solar array to generate power for its onboard systems.<\/p>\n
The sun-synchronous orbit in which Metop satellites operate allows each spacecraft to pass over the Earth\u2019s surface at approximately the same mean solar time in each location. Metop-C will orbit the Earth at an altitude of approximately 811 kilometers (504 miles, 438 nautical miles), inclined at 98.74 degrees. The orbit Metop satellites use is designed so they can observe points on the surface in the mid-morning \u2013 about 09:30 \u2013 in their local time. NOAA\u2019s satellites use orbits suited to afternoon observations, complementing Metop\u2019s data.<\/p>\n
Metop-C will be the third member of the Metop constellation, joining the Metop-A and Metop-B satellites which were launched in 2006 and 2012 respectively. While each Metop satellite is designed to operate for five years, both Metop-A and Metop-B have exceeded their design lives and remain in service. The three spacecraft are of the same design, carrying the same suite of instruments.<\/p>\n
Three of these instruments were provided by the NOAA. The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer 3 (AVHRR\/3), Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit A (AMSU-A) and Space Environment Monitor 2 (SEM-2) are identical to instruments that were flown aboard the NOAA\u2019s fifth-generation POES satellites, that were being launched at the time the Metop spacecraft were developed. All three instruments have previously flown aboard five US weather satellites, beginning with NOAA-15 in 1998, and the two previous Metop spacecraft.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n