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Meteosat 8

retired

Earth ObservationGEOCOSPAR 2002-040BLaunched 8/28/2002

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Mission & Launch

Launch Mission: Atl. Bird 1/MSG 1
Launch Vehicle: Ariane 5G
Launch Date: 8/28/2002
Last Contact: 10/18/2022

Orbit & Mass

Orbit Class: GEO
Altitude: 35,786.5 km
Inclination: 1.21 deg
Dry Mass: 1,000 kg
Total Mass: 2,030 kg

Payload Classification

Mission Type: Earth Observation
Payload Category: MET
Payload Class: C

Organizations

Operator: European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT)
Manufacturer: Thales Alenia Space

Constellation

Name: Meteosat operational fleet
Active Satellites: 5

Registry

COSPAR ID: 2002-040B
UN Registration: ST/SG/SER.E/415

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Mentions

All verified mentions of this spacecraft in source documents.

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Actions

EUMETSAT began re-orbiting Meteosat-8 on 2022-10-06 with maneuvers to lift the spacecraft at least 247 km above geostationary orbit.

PlanCapabilityValue 4.6Oct 17, 2022EUMETSAT’s Meteosat-8, the world’s longest-serving meteorological satellite in geostationary orbit, moves to “graveyard orbit”

Meteosat-8 is the world’s longest-serving meteorological satellite in geostationary orbit.

GeneralValue 2.0Oct 17, 2022EUMETSAT’s Meteosat-8, the world’s longest-serving meteorological satellite in geostationary orbit, moves to “graveyard orbit”

Meteosat-8 was launched on 2002-08-28.

PlanGeneralValue 3.5Oct 17, 2022EUMETSAT’s Meteosat-8, the world’s longest-serving meteorological satellite in geostationary orbit, moves to “graveyard orbit”

EUMETSAT operates Meteosat-8 over the Indian Ocean.

CapabilityGeneralValue 3.5Nov 22, 2020Sentinel-6 Soars Spacewards Via SpaceX Send-Off

Meteosat-8 was serving the Indian Ocean region and was expected to run out of fuel in 2020.

PlanCapabilityValue 3.0Sep 19, 2019NOAA weather satellite transferred to U.S. Air Force

The Air Force plans to move a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) into a similar orbit to Meteosat 8 as a temporary fix.

PlanCapabilityGeneralValue 3.8Jan 9, 2019What’s next for Air Force weather satellites?

The U.S. military obtains observations for U.S. Central Command from EUMETSAT’s Meteosat 8 geostationary weather satellite.

RelationshipsCapabilityValue 4.0Jan 9, 2019What’s next for Air Force weather satellites?

Meteosat 8 was relocated to 41.5 degrees East to optimize coverage from 0 to 82 degrees East using a combination of two Meteosat and two Insat 3D satellites with overlap for cross calibration.

CapabilityPlanValue 4.0Apr 26, 2018New concerns about U.S. Central Command’s access to weather satellite data