# MetOp-A
*missions*

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.

## Specifications
- **operator**: eumetsat
- **current status**: ended
- **actual launch**: 2006-10-19
- **entity type**: mission
- **last verified date**: 2026-06-11
- **verified by**: agency-doc
- **claim status**: agency-sourced
- **provider**: eumetsat
- **attributes**: {"summary":"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.","operator":"eumetsat","current_status":"ended","actual_launch":"2006-10-19"}
- **relevance**: in-scope

## Editorial
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.[^eoportal-metop]

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.[^oscar-metop-a][^eumetsat-metop-series]

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.[^oscar-metop-a][^eumetsat-metop-series] The satellite operated for 15 years, exceeding its nominal design life.[^eoportal-metop]

## Compositional position
- MetOp-A --[mission_payloads]--> amsu-a (products)
- MetOp-A --[mission_payloads]--> mhs (products)
- osi-saf-ascat-winds (data_products) --[related]--> MetOp-A

## Sources
- [oscar-metop-a] | WMO OSCAR - MetOp-A satellite record | https://space.oscar.wmo.int/satellites/view/metop_a | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-11
- [eumetsat-metop-series] | EUMETSAT MetOp satellite series | https://www.eumetsat.int/our-satellites/metop-series | tier=operator-engineering | accessed=2026-06-11
- [eoportal-metop] | MetOp programme, eoPortal | https://www.eoportal.org/satellite-missions/metop | tier=community | accessed=2026-06-11

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Source: https://eo-atlas.org/missions/metop-a
Maintainer: SpectraWorks B.V. (CC-BY 4.0)