METEOSAT-11 (MSG-4)

Long climate and weather records depend on continuity and cross-calibration between generations of instruments, not just the performance of any single spacecraft.

Long climate and weather records depend on continuity and cross-calibration between generations of instruments, not just the performance of any single spacecraft.

Weather spacecraft carry instruments that observe Earth and its atmosphere in visible, infrared, microwave, or other wavelengths. Different orbits provide either repeated regional views or broad global coverage.

• Long climate and weather records depend on continuity and cross-calibration between generations of instruments, not just the performance of any single spacecraft.

Long climate and weather records depend on continuity and cross-calibration between generations of instruments, not just the performance of any single spacecraft.

The current two-line element set reports approximately 1.0027 revolutions per day. Dividing 1,440 minutes by that value gives an estimated orbital period of 1,436.1 minutes.

MSG-4, later Meteosat-11, launched on 15 July 2015 aboard an Ariane 5 from Kourou.

A geosynchronous satellite takes about one sidereal day to orbit Earth. A circular equatorial geostationary satellite appears to remain near one longitude in the sky.

GEO is valuable when continuous coverage of a broad region matters, although the great distance increases signal delay and reduces image detail compared with lower orbits.

• Why can infrared instruments observe clouds at night?
• What is the difference between continuous regional coverage and global coverage?

Current identity and orbital elements come from CelesTrak’s public GP data. Calculated orbit values are derived from the current TLE and may change after catalog updates. Mission-history claims are added separately and require authoritative sources.

• CelesTrak NORAD GP Element Sets