On 26 July at 11:30 CEST, EUMETSAT took control of Europe’s last Meteosat Second Generation weather satellite, MSG-4.

EUMETSAT is ready to take control of the MSG-4 spacecraft on 26 July and start the commissioning of the full MSG-4 system. This will ensure that all systems, in orbit and on ground, meet the requirements of the operational service MSG-4 will eventually have to deliver.

Immediately after the successful launch of MSG-4, EUMETSAT and Arianespace announced the signature of a contract entrusting Arianespace with the first launch services for the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) series of geostationary satellites. It consists of two firm launches for MTG-I1 and MTG-S1, and one option for MTG-I2.

At 23:42:07 CEST (18:42:07 Kourou time) on 15 July 2015, MSG-4, the last in the MSG series of geostationary satellites, was successfully launched from Kourou, Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, on an Ariane-5 launcher.

Arianespace has announced that the launch date of the MSG-4 satellite from the European Spaceport in Kourou, originally foreseen for 8 July, has been reset to 15 July 2015.

Arianespace has announced that the dual launch of the Star One C4 and MSG-4 satellites from the European Spaceport in Kourou, originally foreseen for 8 July, has been postponed for a few days, due to additional checks as part of the launch preparations.

The 83rd meeting of the EUMETSAT Council took place in Darmstadt, Germany, on 23 and 24 June.

The Jason-3 ocean altimetry satellite was shipped to Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on 17 June. The launch campaign will start with the arrival of the satellite at Vandenberg today for a launch date in early August, to be announced by NOAA in the coming days.

The launch date of the MSG-4 satellite from the European Spaceport in Kourou, originally foreseen for 2 July, has been reset to 8 July 2015 due to the rescheduling of the preceding satellite launch from Kourou.

EUMETSAT’s fourth Meteosat Second Generation (MSG-4) satellite is being shipped to French Guiana for a 2 July 2015 launch from Kourou, the European Space Port.