MetOp-A
polar-orbiting weather satellite successfully reached orbit Thursday, ending a
four-month series of satellite- and rocket-related delays and opening a new
chapter in U.S.-European cooperation in space-based meteorology.
The satellite
launched atop a newly designed Soyuz 2-1a vehicle at 12:28 p.m. EDT (1628 GMT)
from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan [image],
and was reported in good health immediately after its separation from the
vehicle.
"It was very intensive," said MetOp flight director Andreas Rudolph in post-launch
broadcast from the European Space Agency's Space Operations Centre in
Darmstadt, Germany. "I feel very relaxed of course because we now can see that
we have a mission."
Today's
successful liftoff marked the third
time in as many days that launch officials readied
MetOp-A and its Soyuz 2
booster for flight [image].
Three previous launch attempts in July were also plagued by delays.
The
4,085-kilogram MetOp-A [image],
carrying 11 observing instruments provided by European and U.S. government
agencies, will become part of a jointly operated system including U.S. and
European satellites.
Built by a
40-company team led by Astrium, MetOp
will be operated by Europe's EUMETSAT meteorological organization, based in
Darmstadt, Germany.
Three
identical MetOp satellites are being built as part of
a 15-year
program to provide continuous coverage of what is known as the mid-morning
polar orbit. MetOp will be crossing the equator at
that time of day. U.S. satellites provided by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Department of Defense will be providing
satellites for the early morning and afternoon polar orbits.
The three MetOp satellites will be
launched at four-year intervals to assure uninterrupted coverage.
The MetOp system -- three satellites, their launch and a
dedicated ground network -- is budgeted at 2.4 billion euros ($3 billion). The
European Space Agency paid about 23 percent of this sum and acted as the design
manager for the first MetOp spacecraft. The French
space agency, CNES, financed the 236-kilogram IASI atmospheric sounding
instrument, which is one of MetOp's principal
instruments
SPACE.com
Staff Writer Tariq Malik contributed to this report from New York City.
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