MetOp, the first in the new European series of operational meteorological satellites in polar orbit, is now scheduled for launch on 7 October 2006. The new date was established last week following various planning meetings between the partners (ESA, EUMETSAT, CNES, NOAA) and Starsem, the launcher company.
MetOp’s planned launch from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on a Soyuz/ST launcher, originally planned for 17 July, had to be called off after three consecutive attempts due to technical reasons related to the Soyuz’s ground system. The MetOp series consists of a total of three satellites, which are designed to provide meteorological operational data from polar orbit until 2020. The global data sets gathered by the MetOp satellites will revolutionise the way the Earth’s weather, climate and environment are observed, in particular they are expected to significantly improve operational meteorology through the provision of additional data for Numerical Weather Prediction Models. MetOp will also provide an important contribution towards the improvement of severe weather forecasts and disaster mitigation. All MetOp satellites are developed by a joint EUMETSAT and European Space Agency (ESA) team, with EADS Astrium as the prime contractor. The suite of MetOp instruments are provided by ESA, EUMETSAT, the French Space Agency (CNES), and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Arianespace Press release: After the difficulties encountered during multiple attempts to launch the MetOp-A satellite on the Soyuz/ST launcher, Starsem and its Russian partners - in agreement with Eumetsat and ESA - have decided to suspend launch operations.
The launch vehicle and its satellite will be returned to the launcher integration facility (MIK). In parallel, a new operations plan is to be established in order to determine the new launch date.
According to the Russian space agency the launch of a European weather satellite aboard a new generation Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket was postponed indefinitely.
"The delay in the launch is due to a failure in mission sequence tests" - Federal Space Agency.
A new launch attempt is scheduled for tonight at 18:28 CEST (16:28 UT, 22:28 Baikonur local time). The satellite preparation has started, satellite is switched on and in standby. Flight software loading to commence shortly. The weather is good. Status of MetOp-A, launcher and ESOC is 'Green'.
Yesterday's launch attempt was aborted shortly after the "go" agreement had been reached at the State Commission, at 3h 30m to launch. The abort was caused by out of limits results in the automated check-out procedure of the launcher. After investigation, this was found to be caused by the partially fuelled status of the launch vehicle, as the test parameters were set to either the empty or the fully fuelled configuration.
The launch of MetOp-A has been delayed again, due to a technical problem with one of the boosters of the launcher. Launch has been rescheduled to tomorrow.