The European Space Agency's Ariane 6 rocket delivered a weather and climate monitoring satellite into orbit on Tuesday evening.
The liftoff took place at 20:37 ET from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana, marking the third flight of the carrier carrying the Metop-SGA1 spacecraft.
“The project will not only ensure continuous polar orbit data for weather forecasting and climate research for two decades, but will also provide improved measurement accuracy, increased resolution, and new tools for scientific applications,” ESA said in a statement on its official website.
Metop-SGA1 carries six instruments that will record a variety of meteorological and climate data for 7.5 years.
Five additional satellites will later join the spacecraft, forming an updated second-generation Metop constellation.
“The mission will take weather and climate monitoring from polar orbit to a whole new level, providing detailed data on temperature, wind, precipitation, cloudiness, soil conditions, volcanic activity and other parameters,” Arianespace noted.
For Arianespace, this flight was the 355th in history, and for the EUMETSAT organization, the 21st specialized satellite launched into space.
Sourse: www.upi.com
