Europe’s newest weather satellite launched from the Spaceport in French Guiana on December 13th, 2022. The Meteosat Third Generation-Imager 1 satellite, or MTG-I1, will deliver advanced imagery of our atmosphere and planet, and provide vital information to weather forecasters and climate scientists.

In this month’s episode, we are looking to space and what the future holds for satellite meteorology. Noel reports from the launch event for MTG-I1 at the European Space Agency in the Netherlands, and speaks with some of the scientists and engineers involved in this mission. We then follow along as they count down to lift off. Noel is first joined by Pierre Kokou, instrument engineer with the European Space Agency, to hear about the process of developing the satellite and getting it to the launch pad. He then speaks with Dr. Lothar Schüller, a network manager with EUMETSAT, on the scientific mission of the satellite and what it will mean for scientists, forecasters and society.