Follow the flight of Ariane 5 for a weather satellite dedicated to “extreme phenomena”


An Ariane 5 rocket takes off from Guyana on December 13, 2022. On board, three satellites, one of which is dedicated to meteorology. This state-of-the-art machine is expected in particular to better anticipate certain extreme phenomena.

The launch in a nutshell

  • What ? Putting three satellites into orbit, including a latest-generation meteorological satellite;
  • When ? December 13, 2022, between 9:30 p.m. and 11:16 p.m. (Paris time);
  • Where ? At the Guiana Space Center, in South America;
  • What will we see? The flight of an Ariane 5 rocket designed by Arianespace, with three satellites on board.

What is the mission?

The mission carried out by Arianespace on December 13 is the last of the year for the Ariane 5 rocket… and one of the very last for this launcher, period.

Its agenda will only include two appointments in 2023: VA260, which will aim to send the Eutelsat 10B (telecommunications) and Syracuse 4B (military communications) satellites. Then there will be VA261, with the space exploration mission JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer), one of the great space missions of the year 2023.

For VA259, three satellites are positioned in the fairing of the launcher. There are Galaxy 35 and Galaxy 36, two satellites dedicated to telecommunications, but also and above all Meteosat Third Generation-Imager 1 (MTG-I1), the first new generation satellite dedicated to meteorology. This is the third generation of this family.

One of the strengths expected with MTG-I1 is its ability to produce high resolution images of an area in Europe and Africa every 10 minutes. By transmitting them more quickly to the ground, this should allow the anticipation of meteorological phenomena ” extreme and dangerous “. In all, the third-generation network must have six satellites: four imagers and two sounders.

The new weather satellite can be used in the fight against forest fires. // Source: Henrique Malaguti

In its description, Arianespace adds that MTG-I1 “ will generate 50 times the volume of data compared to the previous generation. Among his faculties, he is able to map the lightning between the clouds, in a continuous way, but also between the ground and the clouds. It will even be able to better detect the formation of new storm cells upstream.

This meteorological monitoring should have some concrete benefits: aircraft crews will be able to know more precisely the evolution, position and size of storms to adapt their flight. Other environmental consequences, such as floods or forest fires, should also be better identified and better anticipated for the benefit of the emergency services and the populations.

MTG-I1 must be operational for at least eight years. It will be placed in a geostationary orbit, at a distance of almost 36,000 km from the surface of the Earth.

Launch date

The takeoff of the VA259 mission is scheduled for December 13, 2022, in the early evening for metropolitan France (between 9:30 p.m. and 11:16 p.m., Paris time). In Guyana, since it is from there that the launcher will leave, it will be between 5:30 p.m. and 7:16 p.m. The previous mission, VA258, took place at the beginning of September.

How to follow the launch live

The launch is broadcast online on the ESA TV channel. You also have a stream below.

Look at the world from space



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