The Jason-3 high-precision ocean altimetry satellite was successfully launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 19:42 CET (10:42 California time) on a Falcon 9 launcher procured by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as the acquisition agent for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

EUMETSAT has successfully completed the commissioning of its MSG-4 satellite, and renamed it Meteosat-11.

Yesterday, EUMETSAT’s Director-General, Alain Ratier, and Jean-Yves Le Gall, President of CNES, signed a cooperation agreement for the development of a new generation of Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometers (IASI-NG) to be flown on three successive Metop-SG A satellites of the EUMETSAT Polar System of Second Generation (EPS-SG) in the 2021-2040 timeframe.

In the presence of Dr Stephen Volz, Assistant Administrator for NOAA Satellite and Information services, the EUMETSAT Council took important decisions for the implementation of the EPS-Second Generation (EPS-SG) and Jason-Continuity of Service (Jason-CS) programmes, both approved this summer and implemented in cooperation with the United States.

EUMETSAT and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States today signed an agreement on their Joint Polar System (JPS), which will provide observations from two complementary polar orbits in the period from 2020 to 2040.

Today, EUMETSAT and ESA signed a cooperation agreement that secures the development of the Metop Second Generation satellites which form the space segment of the EUMETSAT Polar System of Second Generation. The EPS-SG system will deliver vital meteorological observations from polar orbit in the 2021-2042 timeframe.