MSG-3 Commissioning

Meteosat-10 declared fully operational

EUMETSAT Headquarters

Meteosat-10 has replaced Meteosat-9 as EUMETSAT’s prime operational geostationary weather satellite after being moved to 0º.

Monday 21 January 2012

In April 2013, Meteosat-9 will take over the Rapid Scanning Service (RSS) from Meteosat-8. Meteosat-9 and -10 will then form the two-satellite configuration Press Release

Last Updated: Tuesday, 22 January, 2013 9:26

Timeline

Commissioning milestones
Phase	Activity	Date/Status
LEOP	Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) begins, executed by ESOC under contract to EUMETSAT:	Completed 16 July
	This phase involves several manoeuvres to ensure injection of the satellite into the correct geostationary orbit; removal of SEVIRI baffle cover and cooler cover, and the start of a decontamination process	Completed 16 July
Drift Phase	MSG-3 begins drift to 3.4 deg W, decontamination is completed; SEVIRI is switched off. In parallel, satellite ranging for orbit determination is performed by EUMETSAT	Completed
Handover	Handover to EUMETSAT from ESOC	Completed 16 July
Commissioning	Executed by EUMETSAT to verify in orbit performance and to characterise end to end performance before the service to users will start.	About 6 Months duration
	A stop manoeuvre is performed to position the Spacecraft at 3.4 deg W	Completed 24 July
	RF interface testing with EUMETSAT ground stations; Mission Communication Payload (MCP) testing, including the activation of SAR and DCP receivers; LRIT/HRIT RF tests	Ongoing
	Switch on SEVIRI and 1st SEVIRI image taking	Completed 07 August
	Switch on GERB	Completed 10 August
	Data first available from EUMETCast, to Validation Partners for test purposes only	Completed 25 Sept (Images), 27 Sept (Met Products)
	Trial dissemination, to Member/Cooperating State NMS, ECMWF and registered manufacturers	Completed 23 Oct
	Commissioning Results Review: MSG-3 spacecraft declared ready for operations and is renamed to Meteosat-10, relocation to 0 deg is authorised.	Completed 12 December
	Formal parallel dissemination to the wider user community	Started 18 December

Latest

Trial dissemination of data begins

Trial dissemination of MSG-3 data and meteorolgical products has started.
MSG-3’s SEVIRI instrument readied for operations

The straylight tests were conducted to evaluate the impact of stray solar light on the instrument’s optics with SEVIRI in a nominal scanning pattern.
MSG-3 GERB instrument successfully activated

The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) instrument aboard MSG-3 has been successfully activated today (10 August).
MSG-3 delivers first image

Today (7 August), the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) instrument on MSG-3 captured its first image of the Earth.

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