Several important software components of Europe’s latest meteorological satellite system will be made by SPACEBEL.

MetOp-SG stands for Meteorological Operational Satellite – Second Generation, a new series of meteorological observation satellites developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) in cooperation with EUMETSAT.

This next generation will offer continuity of the current MetOp satellites while providing improved information for weather forecasting in terms of accuracy and resolution along with innovative measurement techniques.

MetOp-SG comprises two sets of three satellites each in polar orbit: the so-called ‘A’ satellites will carry optical instruments whereas the ‘B’ satellites will be equipped with microwave sensors. Each satellite will be launched separately from 2021 onwards.

SPACEBEL’s contribution to MetOp-SG is manifold and covers several domains:

• Space Segment: we are in charge of the design and development of the Microwave Sounder (MWS) Instrument Control Unit Application software that will control the payload on board of the ‘A’ spacecraft.
• Ground segment: we develop two ground data processing systems for the ‘A’ satellites:
  • MWS Ground Prototype Processor, i.e. an autonomous software tool that transforms raw data into radiometrically and geolocated calibrated products
  • MWS Instrument Data Simulator, i.e. a stand-alone software tool that simulates the MWS instrument in its orbital environment (payload simulator).
• Modelling & Simulation: we provide the Real Time Simulation Models for the functional verification infrastructure and satellite simulator.