Detecting extreme weather events earlier than ever before: OHB celebrates successful mating of the MTG sounder satellite

Bremen, 11 October 2023 - German space and technology company OHB is celebrating a crucial milestone in the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) programme. The first MTG Sounder satellite has been successfully assembled by OHB System AG on behalf of the European Space Agency ESA, in partnership with EUMETSAT. The first tests have confirmed its functionality. Now, Europe's new weather satellite is ready for the major test campaign under simulated space conditions.

"This satellite will revolutionise weather forecasting with new types of data acquired from geostationary orbit at an altitude of 36,000 kilometres. At the heart of the MTG Sounder mission is an infrared instrument, the IRS, developed at our Oberpfaffenhofen site with the detection unit (DEA) and Interferometer Assembly provided by Thales Alenia Space France.  The instrument can determine the distribution of temperature and water vapor at different altitudes through the atmosphere, allowing the observation of the movement of the air layers in relation to each other and determining areas of local turbulence which may indicate the development of a storm system. With this data, weather agencies can provide more precise forecasts and are also able to give much earlier warnings of potential extreme weather events," says Dr. Rüdiger Schönfeld, OHB's Director of Earth Observation Systems. He states that he is very proud that his teams have mastered this technical challenge and that OHB is able to meet the high expectations of the scientific community with respect to the instrument and the satellite.

In the final weeks before transport to IABG's test facility near Ottobrunn, extensive functional tests were carried out following the successful mating of the satellite. For this purpose, the satellite was put into operational mode and various scenarios, including flight procedures, were run from the Telespazio ground station in Fucino, Italy, and EUMETSAT's operations centre in Darmstadt.  The MTG Sounder,  passed all tests with flying colours - as if it were already in space.

A challenging time for MTG project manager Ian Bennett and his teams: "The biggest challenge was the tight schedule. Since the beginning of this year, our teams in Oberpfaffenhofen and Bremen have worked extremely hard to have the satellite fully working now. We started with the optical performance test of the IRS in Liège, Belgium, which showed that the instrument is working as expected. Then, in the summer, the IRS was integrated on the satellite platform alongside the Sentinel-4/UVN instrument from Airbus within just seven weeks. Such rapid progress was only possible thanks to the good cooperation with all our partners and the excellent technology that was delivered to us."

Now the weather satellite is ready for testing under simulated space conditions. In the thermal vacuum chamber, it will be exposed to the temperatures it will face in space, and on the shaker, the MTG Sounder will be tested to see if it can withstand the ride on the rocket.
The first weather satellite of the new, third generation, MTG-Imager 1, has already been in space since the end of last year and is showing excellent performance  . OHB is responsible for all six satellite platforms of the overall MTG constellation and is also involved in the development of the payloads: the four units of the telescope assembly of the Flexible Combined Imager for the Imager satellites are being supplied by OHB System AG, as are the two IRS  instruments of the two Sounder satellites. OHB is also the prime contractor for the MTG Sounder satellites. Thales Alenia Space is the prime contractor of the MTG programme, leading the whole MTG industrial consortium, and is responsible for the four MTG Imager satellites.

Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) is one of the most complex and innovative satellite systems ever built. It will provide improved data for weather forecasting from geostationary orbit for the next two decades. MTG is an excellent example of European technological excellence and is based on the long-standing partnership between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).