# Meteosat Third Generation Sounder 1 (MTG-S1)
*missions*

## Specifications
- **operator**: eumetsat
- **actual launch**: 2025-07-01
- **current status**: commissioning
- **orbit type**: Geostationary orbit, approximately 36000 km altitude
- **tasking supported**: false
- **current geographic priority**: Europe and northern Africa
- **launch vehicle**: spacex-falcon-9
- **entity type**: mission
- **last verified date**: 2026-06-14
- **verified by**: agency-doc
- **claim status**: agency-sourced
- **provider**: eumetsat
- **attributes**: {"operator":"eumetsat","actual_launch":"2025-07-01","current_status":"commissioning","orbit_type":"Geostationary orbit, approximately 36000 km altitude","tasking_supported":false,"current_geographic_priority":"Europe and northern Africa","launch_vehicle":"spacex-falcon-9"}
- **relevance**: in-scope

## Editorial
MTG-S1 (Meteosat Third Generation Sounder 1) is a geostationary atmospheric sounding and air-quality monitoring satellite operated by EUMETSAT, with Thales Alenia Space as spacecraft prime and OHB Systems responsible for the sounder platform. Launched on 1 July 2025, the satellite operates in geostationary orbit at approximately 36,000 km altitude with primary coverage over Europe and northern Africa. MTG-S1 carries the InfraRed Sounder (IRS), a high-spectral-resolution Fourier transform spectrometer designed for atmospheric temperature and humidity profiling and wind retrieval from geostationary orbit, and the Sentinel-4 UVN instrument, an ultraviolet-visible-near-infrared sounder for tropospheric trace-gas monitoring as a Copernicus contribution. As of mid-2026, the mission is in commissioning; WMO OSCAR estimated a service-start date of April 2026 for the IRS and Sentinel-4 instruments, though routine operational service had not been confirmed in tier-1 sources as of the research date. MTG-S1 addresses atmospheric profiling, weather nowcasting, and air-quality monitoring over Europe and northern Africa. [^eumetsat-mtg-s1][^esa-mtg-s1-launch][^wmo-mtg-s1][^wmo-irs][^wmo-sentinel-4]

## Compositional position
- Meteosat Third Generation Sounder 1 (MTG-S1) --[mission_payloads]--> irs (products)
- Meteosat Third Generation Sounder 1 (MTG-S1) --[mission_payloads]--> sentinel-4 (products)
- Meteosat Third Generation Sounder 1 (MTG-S1) --[related-topic]--> atmospheric-profiling (topics)
- Meteosat Third Generation Sounder 1 (MTG-S1) --[related-topic]--> weather-nowcasting (topics)
- Meteosat Third Generation Sounder 1 (MTG-S1) --[related-topic]--> air-quality (topics)

## Sources
- [eumetsat-mtg-s1] | EUMETSAT MTG-S1 and Sentinel-4 overview | https://www.eumetsat.int/meteosat-third-generation-sounder-1-and-copernicus-sentinel-4 | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14
- [esa-mtg-s1-launch] | ESA MTG-S1 and Sentinel-4 launch article | https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Meteorological_missions/meteosat_third_generation/MTG-S1_and_Sentinel-4_launch_to_change_how_we_see_our_atmosphere | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14
- [wmo-mtg-s1] | WMO OSCAR satellite record: MTG-S1 | https://space.oscar.wmo.int/satellites/view/mtg_s1 | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14
- [wmo-irs] | WMO OSCAR instrument record: IRS | https://space.oscar.wmo.int/instruments/view/irs | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14
- [wmo-sentinel-4] | WMO OSCAR instrument record: Sentinel-4 | https://space.oscar.wmo.int/instruments/view/sentinel_4 | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14

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Source: https://eo-atlas.org/missions/mtg-s1
Maintainer: SpectraWorks B.V. (CC-BY 4.0)