TIM FURNISS / LONDON
Improved second-generation weather satellites will also monitor solar radiation and Earth temperature levels
The European Space Agency (ESA) is to launch the first of three 2,000kg (4,400lb) Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellites on 27 August.
The 3.2m (10.5ft)-diameter MSG 1 - triple the size of the original Meteosat satellites - and an Atlantic Bird 2 communications satellite will be put into geostationary orbit (GEO) on an Ariane 5 booster.
MSG will join the international World Weather Watch network, which includes a primary fleet of GEO satellites from India, Japan and the USA. MSG 1 plans to improve long-term forecasts and conduct climate research, including monitoring depletion of the ozone layer.
It will carry the Spinning En-hanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI), an uprated version of an instrument flown on the initial seven-satellite Meteosat series, to measure visible light, heat and water vapour in 12 different wavelengths. The images will have a resolution of 1km (0.6 miles).
The satellite's ozone channel is the first to be carried on a European GEO satellite, and will provide daily forecasts of cancer-causing ultraviolet dosage. The size of the MSG sate-llites enables the addition of a new Earth radiation budget experiment to measure solar radiation reflected by the atmosphere and heat emitted by the Earth. MSG will be operated by the European Organisation for Meteorological Satellites (Eutelsat).
Meanwhile, ESA has chosen Astrium as prime contractor for the Aeolus observation mission spacecraft, to be launched into a 400km sun-synchronous orbit in 2007.
The 1,000kg Aeolus, which is the second ESAEarth Explorer Core mission, will carry one instrument - an atmospheric Doppler laser radar array - to provide the first spaceborne observation of winds.
Astrium will also deliver the New Skies K-TV communications satellite next year for launch into GEO. Operated by Greece's HellasSat organisation, it will offer TV broadcasting services for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The 3,250kg Eurostar 2000+ bus will carry 30 Ku-band transponders.
Source: Flight International
