A Metop-A műhold sikeres felbocsátása

Dunkel Zoltánnak, tagintézményünk az OMSZ elnökének érkezett a jó hír az EUMETSAT szervezet vezérigazgatójától, melyet megoszt a honi térinformatikai közösséggel.
"SZÍVES TÁJÉKOZTATÁSUL:

Dear Colleagues,
I am very pleased to provide you with a first report on the successful
outcome of the launch of MetOp A yesterday evening and on the positive
progress in the early operations phase achieved since then.

Following a flawless launch from Baikonour, the Metop satellite and the
Fregat booster separated from the launcher and were injected into their
initial orbit. After two nominal Fregat burns, the first one observed
from the EPS CDA at Svalbard, the second from the Kerguelen station in
the southern Indian Ocean, Metop separated from Fregat and the automatic
satellite on-board sequence started the solar array deployment.

Control of the satellite was then taken over by ESOC in Darmstadt,
signalling the start of Early Orbit Phase operations. This phase
includes operations such as the initialisation and configuration of the
Service Module and the main Payload Module items, and the deployment of
antennas. This phase is expected to last 3 days, and control of the
satellite is planned to be transferred to EUMETSAT on the evening of
Sunday 22nd of October.

So far, Early Orbit Phase operations have been proceeding smoothly.
Battery charging has been taking place nominally, Service Module
initialisation has been successful, and Payload Module initialisation is
in progress

Throughout the Early Orbit Phase, satellite telemetry is being
processed in the EUMETSAT MCC, both from the ESOC LEOP station network
and from the Svalbard CDA in order to initialise the EPS Ground Segment
at EUMETSAT for the handover of the satellite, and for the start of the
satellite In-Orbit Validation (SIOV) phase, which is planned for Monday
23rd of October.

At this juncture, I would like to thank you for your support during the
preparations for this launch, and for your continued confidence in the
EUMETSAT technical and operational capabilities which have been once
more demonstrated through the success we are now celebrating. I am
looking forward to continue exploiting these assets of ours in the
future not only for a long and fruitful exploitation of the EPS
programme, but also for the preparation of our future missions, first of
all MTG, and for supporting the EU in the GMES initiative.

Best regards

Dr. Lars Prahm
Director-General"

Ez az első üzemszerűen működő kvázipoláris meteorológiai műholdja az EUMETSAT szervezetnek.
Az alkalmazások terén hamarosan konferenciát rendeznek az EUMETSAT székhelyén, melynek témája a geostacionáris meteorológiai műholdadatok erdőtűz felderítési és monitoring célú felhasználása lesz.
2nd Workshop on Geostationary Fire Monitoring and Applications. Darmstadt, Germany, 4-6 December 2006.