MTG-S was launched on 1 July 2025.

MTG can cover Europe and part of North Africa in a 15-minute measurement program.

The MTG-S satellite carries the Copernicus Sentinel-4 payload, which is an ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared (UVN) imaging spectrometer.

In the MTG-S temperature image, dark red corresponds to high temperatures and blue corresponds to lower temperatures, typically at cloud tops.

MTG-S data supply meteorologists with a comprehensive regional weather picture that complements MTG-Imager (MTG-I) cloud and lightning data.

The first two images from the Meteosat Third Generation-Sounder were presented at the European Space Conference in Brussels.

The MTG-S moisture image was produced using a midwave infrared channel of the infrared sounder that is sensitive to atmospheric humidity.

The MTG-S infrared sensor’s longwave infrared channel used for the temperature image displays both Earth surface temperature and cloud-top temperature.

MTG sounder data are used to generate three-dimensional maps of the atmosphere from temperature, humidity, wind, and trace-gas measurements to improve weather forecast accuracy and nowcasting.

The MTG-S temperature image shows the West African coast and the Cape Verde peninsula, including Dakar, as among the warmest areas.

The MTG-S infrared sounder is the first European hyperspectral sounder instrument in geostationary orbit.

Areas of lowest atmospheric humidity in the MTG-S moisture image, shown in dark red, are located approximately over the Sahara and the Middle East and extend into part of the South Atlantic.

Thales Alenia Space is the prime contractor for the entire MTG mission.

MTG is an Earth observation mission developed by the European Space Agency together with European partners.

In the MTG-S moisture image, blue indicates regions of higher atmospheric humidity and red indicates regions of lower atmospheric humidity.

The MTG mission currently has two satellites in orbit: MTG-I and MTG-S.

MTG provides new temperature and humidity data over Europe every 30 minutes.

The event highlighted supply chains as a critical point of failure for spacecraft security.

The competition aimed to provide hands-on experience with actual satellites in orbit because ground simulations do not replicate the full space environment with real data.

Davide Avanzi recommends adopting defense-in-depth and zero-trust approaches for space systems and adapting proven IT security practices to the space domain.

D-Orbit’s effort to design and implement infrastructure to securely host the event prompted the company to re-evaluate the threat model of its space infrastructure.

Five finalist teams — ENOFLAG, Superflat, RedRocket, CzechCyberTeam, and PoliTech — competed in real-time cybersecurity challenges aboard ION Satellite Carrier, D-Orbit’s orbital platform.

The competition demonstrated that interacting with and attacking a satellite involves a set of unexpected constraints not found in typical ground IT systems.

Competition tasks included interpreting real telemetry data, sending command sequences, and interacting with onboard software to uncover and exploit vulnerabilities in a controlled environment isolated from the satellite’s commercial mission.

Participation in the event indicated growing interest from the cybersecurity community in space-related topics.

Davide Avanzi is head of product and space security for D-Orbit.

New space companies share responsibility for security in the private sector and face increased risk from financially motivated threat actors targeting poorly defended systems.

One hardware challenge showed that a compromised spacecraft component could take control of other functions and put the security of the whole system at risk.

D-Orbit collaborated with the European Space Agency and Mhackeroni on the orbital cybersecurity competition.

D-Orbit designed the competition to show how tiny implementation details can make existing protocols vulnerable and how communications can be eavesdropped and reverse engineered without knowing protocol internals.

D-Orbit hosted a capture-the-flag cybersecurity competition on a real spacecraft in orbit last year.

The Capture-the-Flag cybersecurity competition took place at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands during the Security for Space Systems (3S) Conference.

Grazia Bibiano is Portugal country leader for D-Orbit.

The competition highlighted the need to improve onboard visibility into spacecraft behavior and to introduce more autonomous defense mechanisms to respond to cyber attacks when the satellite is not in direct contact with the ground.

The event strengthened collaborations between the institutional space sector and the new space community.

Amateras Space is a Japanese startup that develops spacesuits focusing on both functionality and design.

Amateras Space completed an angel round of financing on January 27 through a third-party allotment.

Amateras Space is developing a next-generation spacesuit called VESTRA that incorporates Nishijin-ori textile in its design.

The amount raised by Amateras Space in the January 27 angel round was not disclosed.

Amateras Space will use the funds to conduct initial demonstrations of in-cabin spacesuits.

VESTRA will be exhibited in August 2025 at the Osaka Healthcare Pavilion of the Osaka-Kansai Expo.

Investors in Amateras Space's angel round include entrepreneur Takafumi Horie; Eikoh Fujino, chairman and president of Rheos Capital Works; physician and media-design PhD Kazunori Asada; Mamoru Taniya, chairman of SDG Impact Japan; Hitoshi Uehara, founder of Mynet; Tomoya Nakamura, president of Axelspace Holdings; Kunikiyo Ogiwara, president of Zero to One; and Yasumasa Manabe, president of HOXIN.

VESTRA emphasizes design as well as functional performance in its spacesuit concept.

Amateras Space will use the funds from the angel round to strengthen the core development team for next-generation spacesuit development.

Amateras Space will use the funds to verify and advance core technologies centered on mechanical counter-pressure (MCP) technology.

Northrop Grumman reported $3.9 billion in fourth-quarter 2025 sales, an 18% increase year over year compared with fourth-quarter 2024.

The decrease in Northrop Grumman's 2025 space systems sales was primarily driven by the end of work on classified and intelligence programs, lower production volume on the SLS booster program, and a decrease in SDA satellite programs due to the timing of materials.

RTX reported $24.2 billion in fourth-quarter 2025 sales, a 12% increase year over year compared with fourth-quarter 2024.

Northrop Grumman's space systems business segment experienced a downturn in sales in 2025.

Northrop Grumman reported $13 billion in sales in 2025, a 5% increase compared with 2024.