European Weather Satellite Launched after 4-month Delay

摘要

Europe's second polar-orbiting meteorological satellite, Metop-B, was successfully placed into orbit Sept. 17 by a Soyuz rocket operating from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.Officials at the European Space Agency's European Space Operations Centre here, which has responsibility for Metop-B's postlaunch operations phase, confirmed that ground stations had received a signal that the satellite was healthy in orbit.The 4,082-kilogram satellite, carrying 11 observing instruments from Europe, the United States, Canada and France, will operate in an 820-kilometer polar low Earth orbit. After six months of in-orbit tests, it will monitor weather conditions in tandem with the nearly identical Metop-A launched in October 2006.Metop-A continues to operate with all instruments functioning despite having been in service for nearly a year longer than its contractual design life of five years.