EO·Atlas
MetOp-A
Compiled from public sources on 2026-06-11. Not independently verified by EUMETSAT.
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MetOp-A was the first of three EUMETSAT polar-orbiting meteorological satellites. Launched October 2006, operated as primary NWP platform until April 2013 when MetOp-B took primacy; continued as backup until decommissioned November 2021. Carried AMSU-A, MHS, IASI, ASCAT, AVHRR/3, GOME-2, GRAS, HIRS/4, and SEM-2 for weather and atmospheric sounding.
MetOp-A was the first satellite of the EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS), a joint ESA-EUMETSAT programme providing operational meteorological data for numerical weather prediction. Launched 19 October 2006 from Baikonur on a Soyuz rocket, it operated in a sun-synchronous orbit at approximately 820 km altitude with a 09:30 descending local solar time. Prime contractor was EADS Astrium.[1]
The instrument suite comprised AMSU-A (Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A), MHS (Microwave Humidity Sounder), IASI (Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer), ASCAT (Advanced Scatterometer), AVHRR/3 (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer), GOME-2 (Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2), GRAS (GNSS Receiver for Atmospheric Sounding), HIRS/4 (High-Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder), SEM-2 (Space Environment Monitor), an Argos-3 data collection system, and a Search and Rescue transponder.[2][3]
MetOp-A served as the primary operational NWP platform from launch until April 2013, when MetOp-B assumed primacy on an extended schedule. MetOp-A continued as a backup until decommissioning. WMO OSCAR records the official retirement as 15 November 2021; EUMETSAT records 30 November 2021 as the decommission date.[2][3] The satellite operated for 15 years, exceeding its nominal design life.[1]
Compositional position
- [1]WMO OSCAR - MetOp-A satellite recordagency doc2026-06-11
- [2]EUMETSAT MetOp satellite seriesoperator engineering2026-06-11
- [3]MetOp programme, eoPortalcommunity2026-06-11