ESA LAUNCHES POLAR WEATHER SATELLITES
August 1st, 2006
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Space Agency (ESA) has announced a new launch date for the first of a network of three meteorological satellites that will gather data in a polar orbit, providing crucial weather information. MetOp satellites will be launched on October 7 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and will provide data until 2020. The lack of meteorological ground stations in polar zones impedes forecasting in more temperate latitudes, because their weather is influenced by events in the Arctic and Antarctic. Said ESA: "The global data sets ...
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