{"id":2187,"date":"2019-01-25T13:04:16","date_gmt":"2019-01-25T13:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wmo-sat.info\/satellite-user-readiness\/?p=2187"},"modified":"2025-09-17T10:58:36","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T10:58:36","slug":"eps-sg-basics-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wmo-sat.info\/satellite-user-readiness\/eps-sg-basics-2\/","title":{"rendered":"EPS-SG Basics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-2189 size-medium\" title=\"Artist's impression of the two EPS-Sg spacecraft in space\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wmo-sat.info\/satellite-user-readiness\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/PDF_BR_PRGFS02_EN-1-1_tn-300x300.png\" alt=\"PDF_BR_PRGFS02_EN-1-1_tn\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wmo-sat.info\/satellite-user-readiness\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/PDF_BR_PRGFS02_EN-1-1_tn.png 300w, https:\/\/www.wmo-sat.info\/satellite-user-readiness\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/PDF_BR_PRGFS02_EN-1-1_tn-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.wmo-sat.info\/satellite-user-readiness\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/PDF_BR_PRGFS02_EN-1-1_tn-45x45.png 45w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>EPS-SG is EUMETSAT&#8217;s next generation of polar-orbiting satellites, following on from earlier successful EUMETSAT Polar System programme (Metop). This next generation will secure the continuation of meteorological observations from polar orbit from 2025-2043.<\/p>\n<p>The EPS-SG mission will have two series of spacecraft, Metop-SG A, the first of which was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eumetsat.int\/successful-launch-metop-sga1-take-weather-forecasting-new-heights\">launched on 13 Aug 2025<\/a>, and B, flying on the same mid-morning orbit, like the current Metop satellites. The orbit height is in the range 823-848 (dependent on latitudes). There will be three satellites each of Metop-SG A and Metop-SG B.<\/p>\n<p>Metop-SG A is an atmospheric sounding and imaging mission. It has a suite of infrared, microwave, and imaging instruments for sounding temperature, moisture and trace gases in the atmosphere:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/user.eumetsat.int\/resources\/user-guides\/metop-sg-iasi-ng-l1c-and-l1d-data-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI-NG)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/user.eumetsat.int\/resources\/user-guides\/metop-sg-mws-l1b-data-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Microwave Sounder (MWS)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/user.eumetsat.int\/resources\/user-guides\/metop-sg-me-timage-l1b-data-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">METimage<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/user.eumetsat.int\/resources\/user-guides\/metop-sg-3-mi-l1b-and-l1c-data-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Multi-viewing, Multi-channel, Multi-polarisation Imager (3MI)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/user.eumetsat.int\/resources\/user-guides\/metop-sg-sentinel-5-uvns-l1b-data-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sentinel-5 instrument<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Metop-SG B is a microwave imaging mission, focused on radar observations of ocean-surface wind and soil moisture and all-weather microwave imagery of precipitation and ice clouds:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/user.eumetsat.int\/resources\/user-guides\/metop-sg-sca-l1-b-data-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Scatterometer (SCA)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/user.eumetsat.int\/resources\/user-guides\/metop-sg-mwi-l1b-data-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Microwave Imager (MWI)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/user.eumetsat.int\/resources\/user-guides\/metop-sg-ici-l1b-data-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ice Cloud Imager (ICI)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Both satellites are equipped with a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) <a href=\"https:\/\/user.eumetsat.int\/resources\/user-guides\/metop-sg-ro-l1b-data-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Radio-Occultation (RO) instrument<\/a> for limb sounding of temperature and humidity at high vertical resolution.<\/p>\n<h4>Ground Segment<\/h4>\n<p>The EPS-SG Overall Ground Segment (OGS) will support the ground functions required to meet the EPS-SG Missions objectives.<\/p>\n<p>Main functions of the OGS:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Acquiring, processing and disseminating EPS-SG global and regional data to the end users, as part of the EPS-SG Global and Regional missions.<\/li>\n<li>Monitoring, controlling and operating the Metop-SG satellites in orbit.<\/li>\n<li>Archiving EPS-SG global data and providing off-line retrieval from archive and user support services.<\/li>\n<li>Perform calibration and validation of the products, routinely monitoring the Metop-SG instruments&#8217; health, and product quality.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The ground segment consists of:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mission Control and Operations (MCO) \u2014 The MCO block will ensure the end-to-end monitoring and control of the Metop-SG spacecraft, including Tracking, Telemetry and Control (TT&amp;C).<\/li>\n<li>Payload Data Acquisition and Processing (PDAP) \u2014 The PDAP block will ensure the end-to-end chain from data acquisition to the generation of level 1 and level 2 products.<\/li>\n<li>EUMETSAT Multi Mission Elements (MMEs) \u2014 The Multi Mission Elements (MMEs) are EUMETSAT operational facilities and common infrastructure used by existing programmes. They are split in four groups: infrastructure, data centre, monitoring and dissemination. They will be used by EPS-SG after extension and upgrade.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Further information on the Metop-SG spacecraft, instruments and services can be found on <a href=\"https:\/\/user.eumetsat.int\/data\/satellites\/metop-sg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Metop-SG section<\/a> of the EUMETSAT User Portal.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EPS-SG is EUMETSAT&#8217;s next generation of polar-orbiting satellites, following on from earlier successful EUMETSAT Polar System programme (Metop). This next generation will secure the continuation of meteorological observations from polar orbit from 2025-2043. The EPS-SG mission will have two series of spacecraft, Metop-SG A, the first of which was launched on 13 Aug 2025, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[65,24],"tags":[66],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wmo-sat.info\/satellite-user-readiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wmo-sat.info\/satellite-user-readiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wmo-sat.info\/satellite-user-readiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wmo-sat.info\/satellite-user-readiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wmo-sat.info\/satellite-user-readiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2187"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/www.wmo-sat.info\/satellite-user-readiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2343,"href":"https:\/\/www.wmo-sat.info\/satellite-user-readiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187\/revisions\/2343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wmo-sat.info\/satellite-user-readiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wmo-sat.info\/satellite-user-readiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wmo-sat.info\/satellite-user-readiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}