MetOp-B, the European polar orbiting meteorology satelite designed and manufactured by Astrium is ready to be launched from Baikonur Cosmod...
MetOp-B, the European polar orbiting meteorology satelite designed and manufactured by Astrium is ready to be launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Khazakhstan. Satelite will provide a wide range of measurements vital to weather forecasting and climate monitoring.
MetOp-B is the second of three MetOp polar-orbiting satellites procured on behalf of Eumetsat, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, by ESA from a European industrial consortium led by Astrium.
The satellite is set for liftoff onboard a Soyuz rocket on 17 September, including instruments from the French space agency, CNES, and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA.
The first radio signal from the craft is expected around 66 minutes after liftoff. ESA teams closely monitor new satellite's Launch and Early Orbit Phase – known as LEOP to engineers – which begins three minutes later, when MetOp separates from the Fregat upper stage. It will finish three days later when ESA hands the satellite over to Eumetsat after placing it into its planned orbit and ensuring that all systems are working properly.
During LEOP, ground teams at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, will check all of MetOp-B’s systems and that its solar array has deployed and rotated toward the Sun to provide crucial electrical power to run the satellite and its 13 scientific instruments. “On Day One, we’ll look for solar array deployment and activate a number of systems, and on Day Two, we’ll deploy five payload instrument antennas,” says Hervé Côme, Flight Operations Director at ESOC. “On Day Three, we’ll conduct a number of thrusterburns to fine tune the orbit and get into ‘phase’ with the orbit of MetOp-A while we prepare for handover to Eumetsat.” It requires months of simulation training to prepare for LEOP. After months of simulation training and intensive rehearsals, the mission controllers assigned to MetOp-B are ready to react to any possible contingency situation.
“This LEOP is very similar to that for MetOp-A, launched in 2006, as the two satellites, the launcher and the ground station network are almost identical,” says Andreas Rudolph, Deputy Flight Operation Director.
MetOp will enter a polar orbit at an altitude of 817 km with an orbital period of 101 minutes, so multiple ground stations are necessary to providethe full-time communications needed during LEOP.
