MetOp

MetOp ( Meteorological Operational Satellite ) is called a series of three European weather satellite with a low Earth polar orbit. MetOp was developed by the European meteorological satellite operators EUMETSAT and the European Space Agency in collaboration with the company Astrium, the French space agency CNES and the U.S. weather agency NOAA for the EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS). The EPS is used for operational meteorology and climate monitoring. The satellite design is based on a version built by Astrium polar platform of the Envisat satellite.

Higher resolution of the images, better observation of the Polar and the North Atlantic region and by measuring the temperature and moisture distribution in unprecedented accuracy MetOp contributes three to extend the reliable prediction interval to five days.

Development of the program

A polar-orbiting weather satellite for Europe was in the late 60s in the conversation for the first time. Since at this time the U.S. but presented the data of their civilian weather satellites available, there was little need to develop your own polar-orbiting satellites. Beginning of the 80s, however, examined the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA) for a partner for the continuation of the service. In 1998, the bodies of the Council of EUMETSAT and ESA for the first time gave its approval to the design, development, launch and operation of the European Polar System (EPS). EUMETSAT and NOAA signed an agreement on a joint Initial Joint Polar System ( IJPS ), consisting of two polar-orbiting satellites and the associated ground stations. In another arrangement, agreement was reached on the operation until at least 2019.

Orbit

The near-Earth polar orbit of the MetOp satellites makes it an ideal complement to the geostationary meteorological satellite Meteosat series. Due to the low height of only about 820 km, the resolution of the imaging sensors is much better than geostationary satellites, which operate at a height of just 35.8 thousand kilometers. However, decreases in the same scale, the field of view of the instruments. Satellites with polar orbit can almost sense the entire Earth in one day, a particular area may MetOp but only once per round watch for about 15 minutes while geostationary satellites continuously cover a single region.

Another advantage of the satellites in polar orbits is better coverage of the polar regions. The Meteosat satellites observe only the part of the globe, which is visible from its seemingly fixed position over the equator. Far from the equator lying areas are measured at a shallow angle, among which the spatial resolution suffers.

MetOp -A

The first satellite MetOp -A with a launch mass of 4093 kg started - start after several crashes - July 17, 2006 at 16:28 UTC clock in Baikonur. The launcher rocket used the modified Sojus-2-1a/Fregat who had previously suffered only a suborbital test launch. Because MetOp a much larger volume than the previously started with the Soyuz - Fregat payloads, a voluminous ST payload fairing used the Sojus-2-1a/Fregat for the first time ( almost identical in size and shape with the payload fairing of the Ariane 4 ).

69 minutes after the start of successfully completing the MetOp -A was suspended by the Fregat upper stage and went into operation in early 2007. It orbits the Earth in a polar (more precisely, sun-synchronous ) orbit at about 820 km altitude with an inclination of 98.72 °.

The satellite consists of two modules: the service module (service module) is for the power supply, the position control and the control (S - band transmission of telemetry and tele- command ) in charge and was developed by EADS in France on the basis of the SPOT Earth observation satellites. The payload module ( payload module) contains the instruments and the data transmission of payload data to the ground (mainly X-band ) and was developed by EADS in Germany (Friedrichshafen).

Instruments

The satellite observed with 13 instruments, the weather patterns. Some of them are identical to instruments in the NOAA -18 weather satellite that performs a similar function. In addition, MetOp provides environmental data to the participating environmental information systems. To this end, he misses with high precision the temperature and moisture distribution, as well as trace gases in the atmosphere such as ozone, CO and CO2, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and methane.

On MetOp -A flying a number of instruments that perform operational measurements of the atmosphere and land and ocean.

IASI - Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer - Measurement of temperature of the air and the surface of the oceans, as well as measurement of humidity, trace gas content
MHS - Microwave Humidity Sounder - measuring the humidity of the atmosphere
GRAS - Global Navigation Satellite System Receiver for Atmospheric Sounding - Measurement of temperature in the upper troposphere and the stratosphere with high vertical resolution
ASCAT - Advanced Scatterometer - Measurement of wind speed and direction over the ocean surface and soil moisture over land.
GOME -2 - Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment -2 - Creation of ozone profiles of the atmosphere
AMSU-A1/AMSU-A2 - Advanced Microwave Sounding Units - Measurement of sea ice, the temperature and the humidity in all weather conditions
HIRS / 4 - Infrared Radiation Sounder High-resolution - Measurement of air temperature and humidity
AVHRR / 3 - Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer - imaging in the visible and near infrared region of clouds and surfaces
A- DCS - Advanced Data Collection System - collection of data from other ground- or sea-based observation stations
SEM -2 - Space Environment Monitor - particle consisting of Total Energy Detector (TED) for low-energy particles and the Energy Proton and Electron Detector medium ( MEPED ) for particles of average energy
SARP -3 - Search And Rescue Processor
SARR - Search And Rescue Repeater - Reception and transmission of distress alerts

MetOp -B and MetOp -C

The launch of the replacement satellite, MetOp -B was delayed due to the crash of a Soyuz rocket in August 2011. According to further shifts MetOp -B was launched into space on 17 September 2012. The start of the third satellite MetOp - C is for 2018Vorlage: Future / provided in 4 years.

Costs

The costs are expected to amount to € 2.5 billion. Of this, € 0.5 billion to ESA for the development, construction and transport of satellites and approximately € 2 billion to EUMETSAT for the ongoing operation of the satellite, receiving and evaluating the data.

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