The sensors of a space satellite are so sensitive that in order to access the places where they are created, known as ‘clean room‘ or clean rooms, it is necessary to wear a gown, hat and foot protection to avoid contamination of the place with hair or human skin.
In one of these rooms is the satellite MTG-I1the first image generator of the Meteosat program Third generation. It is located in the French city of Cannes, in one of the most important facilities of Thales Alenia Space, the joint company established between Thales (67%) y Leonardo (33%), entities, which together with MTG, have been in charge of developing the necessary technology to take this satellite to the final phase of integration in which it is currently.
The MTG program will launch a total of 6 satellites that will replace the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG). The MTG-l1 will be the first to be launched into geostationary orbit, about 36.000 km away from the earth’s crust. From there it will carry out meteorological surveillance tasks and provide images of the plant’s surface in near real time and in high resolution. This milestone in space engineering is the result of cooperation between the European Space Agency and EUMETSAT.
But, what is new about this new satellite compared to others? According to its creators, it will provide in a very short time a complete picture of the Earth, in a total of 10 minutescompared to the second generation satellites that did it in 15. It also has a fast mode that allows you to generate photographs in just 2.5 minutes of all the European continent and part of Africa.
“This meteorological mission contributes to a great evolution in this field, because it increases the precision when it comes to forecasting and can help address climate disasters sooner,” he explained. Simonetta Cheli, Director of ESA’s Earth Observation Programme, during the presentation of the satellite. Obtaining these images so quickly is possible thanks to an instrument called FCI (Flexible Combinate Imager)which in addition to this provides a spatial resolution between 500m y 1 km. This will improve the reliability of weather forecasts in a few minutes.
Thales Alenia Space facilities in Cannes (France)
Another of the newest tools that this new Meteosat has is the technology LI (Lightning imager)a sophisticated instrument with four drum-sized chambers capable of visualize the rays. It is composed of an optical head (LOH) and a main electronic box. It makes it possible to detect both the lightning that strikes the ground and those located within the clouds, which can provide great knowledge to the scientific community. Its about Europe’s first lightning ‘chaser’ and will allow the study of these events and their physical and chemical processes. You will also be able to predict lightning-related natural disasters. When events like a tornadoLI can detect existing lightning progressively while the tornado is forming, which could help evacuate or prevent the affected populations, “the creator of the tool, the Italian, explains to ABC. Carlo Simoncelli, manager of Leonardo.
This summer in Spain, the two major fires that have burned the most hectares have been Losacio (Zamora) and Bejín (Castellón), both caused naturally by lightning. The satellite “can be used to activate the necessary alarms to prevent large fires, such as the media shift as firefighters to the area where discharges are expected, the forest closure or the local refreshment”, he adds.
The project has had the collaboration of dozens of countries. From the facilities of Three Songs of Thales Alenia Space in Spain they have developed key technologies to ensure the image quality required for the satellite.
Las data receiving stations they are found in Leuk (Switzerland) and Lario (Italy). They are made up of large antennas, strategically placed in such locations as the space-to-ground link can be degraded in severe rain. Scientists have calculated that it is the place where these conditions are least likely to be met at the same time, so that if the weather prevents communication with the satellite in Leuk, it is most likely that it will work in Lario, and vice versa. .
The satellite is practically ready, on September 28 it will set sail by ship from the port of Fos sur Mer to French Guiana, where at the end of the year, probably in December, according to ESA sources, it will be launched into space aboard a Ariane 5 rocket.
To get to this stage, the satellite has had to pass a multitude of tests, such as vibration or empty. To carry out this last test, the already assembled satellite is introduced inside a TVAC (Thermal Vacuum Chamber), a large hermetic enclosure that takes two days to depressurize its interior and empty the air completely, thus simulating the conditions of space.
The vacuum chamber where they test the MTG-l1
They are also tested for thermal cyclingwhere the apparatus is subjected to large temperature changes to see if it would resist the thermal changes produced by the sun.
Unlike other satellites that are covered with a paper similar to orange aluminum, in the case of the MTG-l1 this paper is black, since its already mentioned sensors they are so sensitive that they could be affected by reflections from the sun.