METOP-SG-A 1, 2, 3

METOP-SG-A [Airbus DS]

METOP-SG (Meteorological Operational - Second Generation) is Europe's second generation polar-orbiting operational meteorological satellite system to replace the first generation METOP satellites.

In October 2014, Airbus Defense and Space was selected to build these satellites. The Satellite A-series will be developed and built under the industrial lead of Airbus Defence and Space in Toulouse.

The METOP-SG Series consists of two subseries with three units in each series with different instrument suites: METOP-SG-A and METOP-SG-B. The Satellite A-series focuses on optical instruments and atmospheric sounders, while the Satellite B-series focuses on microwave instruments. Both types will be based on Airbus Defense and Space’s Astrobus high-power satellite platforms.

The METOP-SG-A series carries following instruments:

• Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI-NG) (CNES)
• Visible/Infrared Imager (METimage) (DLR)
• Microwave Sounder (MWS) (ESA)
• Radio Occultation (RO) (ESA)
• Multi-viewing, multi-channel, multi-polarisation Imager (3MI) (ESA)
• Sentinel-5 (Copernicus/ESA)

The first METOP-SG A will be launched on a Soyuz-ST-B Fregat-MT rocket. Later satellites might also use the Ariane-62 launcher.