German Tech Crucial to Next-Gen European Weather Satellite

Late in the evening on December 13 (MET), the Meteosat Third Generation Imager was brought into earth orbit. The weather satellite makes images with double the resolution and offers a data transfer rate one hundred times faster than its predecessors. It’s capable of capturing bolts of lightning from regional thunderstorms nearly in real time.

Germany is roughly 30 percent responsible for the satellite. Bremen company OHB built all six of the satellite platforms, and Airbus DS was a main contributor to the design and construction of a key instrument. The German Aerospace Agency (DLR) and the German Weather Service helped technically steer the program.

“I’m extremely proud to see a new era of satellite meteorology begin,” said Simonetta Cheli, director of earth observation programs at the European Space Agency, in a statement. “MTG was developed thanks to the expertise of ESA, Eumetsat and a highly competitive European space industry. With the satellite’s innovative design and its novel ‘lightning catcher,’ MTG will push European weather forecasting into the future.”