EUMETSAT’s MetOp-SG-A1 Satellite Launched with Teledyne Space Imaging Sensors

MetOp-SG-A1 is the first unit of a pair of next generation satellites that will orbit the Earth together 14 times a day, to provide observation of any location on Earth. In total three satellite pairs will be launched over the next two decades. MetOp-SG-A1 successfully launched on 13 August 2025 at 01:37 BST (12 August 21:37 local time) from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

The MetOp Second Generation mission is part of the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites’ (EUMETSAT) Polar System, which is Europe’s first contribution to the Joint Polar System shared with the USA’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This is also part of a long-standing cooperation between EUMETSAT and the European Space Agency (ESA). The Metop-SG satellites are developed under ESA contract by a European industrial consortium led by Airbus Defence and Space.

Teledyne Space Imaging supplied detectors for three instruments on board MetOp-SG-A1. For Sentinel-5 and METimage, Teledyne delivered the CCD314 and CIS119 respectively to Airbus Defence and Space GmbH. For the Multiviewing, Multichannel, Multipolarisation Imager (3MI), the company worked with SELEX Galileo, now Leonardo Electronics US Inc, on the CCD327-20.