
Meteosat Third Generation
EUMETSAT's next generation of geostationary satellites


The Meteosat Third Generation satellite system is set to revolutionise weather forecasting and enable more precise monitoring of our changing atmosphere, land and oceans.
For the latest information on the release of MTG-I1 data and how to prepare for it see our MTG data page and Getting Ready page.
Severe storms can pose significant and increasing hazards to society. But help is at hand — a new generation of Meteosat satellites will soon be launched, delivering Earth observations of unprecedented range, resolution, and frequency.
Building on the decades-long legacy of Meteosat’s first and second generation satellites, Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) will revolutionise storm prediction, enhance weather forecasts, extend climate records, and provide a wide range of essential observations.
These measurements will underpin services, support livelihoods, and help save lives.
New satellites
MTG is one of the most complex and innovative meteorological geostationary satellite systems ever built. The complete constellation consists of three satellites: two imaging satellites and one sounding satellite, the first operational sounding satellite in a geostationary orbit.
Based on user requirements collected during the planning phase of the programme, MTG will provide near-real-time 3D snapshots of important characteristics of the atmosphere.


Better weather forecasting
One of the biggest benefits from these observations will be improvements to nowcasting — enabling forecasters to track the development of storms in near-real time and save valuable time in warning about severe and dangerous weather events.
By providing more detail about current weather conditions, MTG will also help improve the accuracy of longer range forecasts. Regular atmospheric soundings will provide more detailed information about developing weather patterns for numerical weather prediction (NWP) models.
MTG is also the first geostationary weather satellite with the capability to detect lightning data across a broad area over Europe, Africa, and the surrounding waters. This data will provide a major boost to very short-term nowcasting and numerical weather prediction models, which support longer-term forecasts.
Climate records
MTG's decades-long mission guarantees a continuity of geostationary data into the future. The long-term, consistent, extensive, and directly comparable datasets provided are invaluable to climate studies. Once MTG satellites reach the end of their mission, EUMETSAT will have amassed more than 60 years of comparative observations.
Essential products and services
Observations taken by MTG satellites will support the development of products and services that can provide major contributions to firefighting, air quality forecasts, air traffic control, search and rescue missions, disaster risk reduction, agricultural productivity, marine and coastal management, sustainable energy production, and much more.
The first Meteosat Third Generation satellite, the imager MTG-I1, was launched at 20:30 UTC on 13 December on an Ariane 5 launcher from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. The launch dates for subsequent satellites in the series MTG-S1, MTG-I2, and then later, at the time of renewal of the operational fleet, MTG-I3, MTG-S2 and MTG-I4 are calculated from the time of the first launch.

- MTG will orbit the Earth at an altitude of 36,000km keeping a constant view over Europe and Africa.
- MTG constellation consists of three satellites: two imaging satellites (MTG-I), one sounding satellite (MTG-S). Two constellations of six new geostationary satellites will be launched.
- The Infrared Sounder, Lightning Imager and Ultraviolet Visible Near-infrared (UVN) Spectrometer are world firsts in this orbit.
- MTG lifetime — MTG-I: 20 years of operational services, MTG-S: 15 years of operational services.
- The two MTG-I satellites will operate in tandem, one providing 0 degree full disc service, scanning Europe and Africa every 10 minutes, the other providing the rapid scanning service (RSS), scanning Europe every 2.5 minutes.
- MTG-I will deliver more frequent data (full disc every 10 minutes versus 15 minutes currently from MSG and RSS every 2.5 minutes versus 5 minutes), improved spatial resolution (500m/2km versus 1km/3km for MSG) and a better radiometric and spectral resolution (16 channels versus 12 channels for MSG).
- The Lightning Imager will provide new real-time data on the location and intensity of lightning flashes in its field of view, covering the full Earth disk.
- The infrared and UVN sounding missions will deliver new capabilities for the real-time monitoring of atmospheric profiles, air quality (e.g. tropospheric ozone and carbon monoxide) and dispersion of atmospheric pollution.
- MTG carries communications payload (GEOSAR) to relay distress signals from 406MHz emergency beacons to rescue services.
- MTG operations will commence following the successful commissioning of the first imaging satellite, MTG-I1 (expected to be one year after launch). The full operational capacity will only be achieved once the first sounder and the second imaging satellite have also been commissioned.
- The MTG spacecraft are being built by a European consortium led by Thales Alenia Space of France.
- EUMETSAT is responsible for the associated MTG ground segment, which is an integral part of the existing EUMETSAT multi-mission ground network infrastructure, the launch service, the LEOP service and the development of the Satellite Application Facilities part of the MTG programme.