Today’s signature of a cooperation agreement on the exchange of oceanographic satellite data between EUMETSAT and the China State Oceanic Administration’s (SOA’s) National Satellite Ocean Application Service (NSOAS) will further increase cooperation with China and create new opportunities for the oceanography user community.

On 3-7 September, meteorologists, scientists and researchers will meet in Sopot, Poland, for the 2012 EUMETSAT Meteorological Satellite Conference, Europe’s leading annual specialised forum for scientific exchanges between meteorologists, oceanographers and environmentalists.

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

Today at 14:00 local time, following the successful launch of the satellite on 5 July aboard an Ariane 5 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, and after 11 days of LEOP (Launch and Early Orbit Phase) by ESA’s Centre, ESOC, EUMETSAT took control of the MSG-3 operations

EUMETSAT, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, held its 76th Council meeting in Darmstadt, Germany, on 5 and 6 July

At 23:36:07 CEST (18:36:07 Kourou time), MSG-3 was successfully launched from Kourou, Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, on an Ariane-5 launcher to replace the ageing Meteosat-8 and secure continuity of the operational services from the geostationary orbit.

Today, EUMETSAT Director-General Alain Ratier signed the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters

The revised launch date for the Metop-B satellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome has been set for 19 September 2012

Arianespace has announced that the launch date of the MSG-3 satellite from the European Spaceport in Kourou, originally foreseen for 19 June, has been reset to the evening of the 5 July 2012.

Additional measures required to ensure the availability of safe drop zones for parts of the launcher after lift off.