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A new European weather satellite is ready to be launched Tuesday night aboard a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana. These photos illustrate the last weeks of the launch campaign of the spacecraft.
The MetOp-C meteorological satellite (9,003 lbs) will launch into a polar orbit about 800 km above the Earth to measure key atmospheric variables, data needed to power NWP models.
Built by Airbus Defense and Space, MetOp-C is the third in a series of polar-orbiting weather satellites owned by Eumetsat, the European meteorological satellite agency. Eumetsat and NOAA have a data-sharing arrangement, sharing responsibilities for polar-orbit weather coverage between European and US spacecraft.
Designed for a seven-year mission, MetOp-C will help improve medium-term forecasts ranging from 12 hours to 10 days. His instruments will measure temperature, humidity, ozone, trace gases and wind speed over the oceans.
Read our full story for an overview of the mission.
The photos below show the refueling of the MetOp-C satellite at the Guiana Space Center, followed by its attachment to the upper stage Fregat of the Soyuz rocket, which will direct it to the target orbit. The photo gallery also shows the encapsulation of Fregat's satellite and upper stage in the payload fairing of the Soyuz rocket.
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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @ StephenClark1.
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