Let the Work Begin on MTG

摘要

Just when it appeared Europe had finally cleared all the hurdles to building a next-generation weather satellite system that had been delayed for several months by a dispute over the allocation of work, another snag has arisen in the form of cash-strapped Portugal's refusal to approve the program.rnWith the ongoing debt crisis casting a cloud over the finances of several European countries, the European Eumetsat meteorological satellite organization failed during a Dec. 1 meeting of its ruling council to win approval from four of its 26 members to begin work on the ground segment for the six-satellite Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) system. The holdouts, in addition to Portugal, were Spain, Belgium and Switzerland.