🛰️ Lift off for MTG-I2: Telespazio, part of Leonardo Space, acquires first signal from the Fucino Space Centre
MTG-I2, the third Meteosat Third Generation satellite from European Space Agency - ESA EUMETSAT, lifted off on 27 August at 20:11 UTC from Kourou (French Guiana) aboard an Arianespace Ariane 6 launcher.
About 25 minutes after launch, Telespazio's Fucino Space Centre acquired the satellite's first signal, officially marking the start of the LEOP (Launch and Early Orbit Phase), which will last twelve days.
The joint Telespazio-EUMETSAT-ESA-Industry LEOP team is now guiding MTG-I2 toward its final geostationary orbit at 36,000 km, supported by a global network of antennas spanning Fucino (Italy), Cheia (Romania), Malindi (Kenya), Santiago (Chile), Yatharagga and Dongara (Australia), South Point and Pamalu (Hawaii).
This milestone crowns nine years of preparation by Telespazio's engineers, in collaboration with programme partners Thales Alenia Space and OHB. Key contributions also came from:
🔹 Telespazio Germany, supporting mission preparation and validating MTG-I2's Mission Control System
🔹 Telespazio France, handling operational qualification of CNES's SETTERS telemetry system along the launch's eastern trajectory (Natal, Ascension, Libreville, Malindi)
The MTG programme, led by ESA and EUMETSAT with Thales Alenia Space as prime contractor, will ensure continuity of Earth observation data for weather forecasting and climate monitoring for the next twenty years.
Telespazio has been involved since the programme's inception in designing and managing its ground station network: Fucino, the Lario Space Centre (Como), Leuk (Switzerland, with Signalhorn), Cheia (Romania, with Rartel), and EUMETSAT headquarters in Darmstadt.
Read more: https://lnkd.in/edJwnYSN
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