METOP-B
Operator: ESA · Country: European Meteorological Satellite Organization
Live Position
Ground Track · Last 90 Minutes
Upcoming Passes · Over Your Location
About This Satellite
Metop-B took over the prime operational service from Metop-A on April 24, 2013. The transition followed commissioning rather than occurring automatically at launch. Metop-A continued contributing observations, so the handover also created an opportunity to use two related spacecraft together instead of simply replacing one dot on a map.
Receiving data is not the same as approving a service
EUMETSAT reported first Metop-B data within two weeks of launch, but calibration and validation followed before the operational handover. Engineers and product specialists needed to establish that the measurements could be used reliably. Early reception, routine distribution, and acceptance for forecasting are distinct stages in that process.
The 2013 handover is a historical milestone
The announcement documents a particular service transition; it is not a live health report for every instrument on Metop-B. When working with an observation, check the product date and applicable quality information. A successful satellite-position prediction cannot establish that a specific sensor was collecting usable data at that moment.
Mission reference: EUMETSAT: Metop-B operational handover in April 2013. Editorial review: .
Two spacecraft could measure the movement between images
EUMETSAT's dual atmospheric-motion-vector climate record uses AVHRR/3 infrared channel 4 imagery from Metop-A and Metop-B. Following features between observations supports estimates of atmospheric motion. The published vectors include speed, direction, assigned height, and quality information: the height is essential when deciding which part of the atmosphere a wind estimate represents.
Reference: EUMETSAT: dual Metop-A/B atmospheric motion vectors, Release 1.
An archive interval is not the spacecraft lifetime
Release 1 covers April 24, 2013 through December 31, 2017. Those bounds describe this reprocessed climate dataset, not the complete lifetime of either spacecraft. The vectors represent inferred atmospheric motion rather than the satellite's orbital speed. Read the product metadata before comparing this record with another wind dataset or with a current weather map.
Reference: EUMETSAT: temporal coverage and vector interpretation.
Reading this orbital snapshot
Based on TLE epoch: 2026-09-05. Estimated altitude ranges from 818 km at perigee to 823 km at apogee, a difference of 5 km. The orbital period is about 101.3 minutes. Eccentricity 0.00034 indicates a nearly circular path. In a two-body approximation, perigee speed is 1.00 times apogee speed. These are mean-element estimates, not instantaneous measurements. Distance per orbit uses an ellipse approximation.
Saved build snapshot. If a valid TLE is retrieved, this explanation and the orbit panel update together. Otherwise this dated snapshot is retained.
Ground track is not sensor coverage
An inclination of 98.64 degrees implies approximate geocentric ground-track limits of 81.4 degrees north and south. This is a retrograde orbit, moving against the direction of Earth rotation. The plotted line marks the point beneath the object. It does not represent camera coverage, radio reception, or a guaranteed visible pass.
Accuracy and missing information
The introductory record describes the build snapshot. The orbital snapshot explanation and orbit panel share any successfully retrieved TLE; check the displayed epoch. Reentered objects retain historical data only. Mission history is not rewritten by TLE updates. TLE/SGP4 positions are predictions and can change after maneuvers or updated observations. The 14-day stale-data cutoff is a display safeguard, not an accuracy guarantee. Local passes are geometric predictions, not a visibility forecast. No verified operator or mission status means unknown, not active. Do not use this catalog for collision avoidance or operational flight decisions.
Catalog sources: CelesTrak SATCAT: NORAD 38771 · GCAT: S38771 (source update 2026 Sep 4 2345:57). Supplementary metadata: SatNOGS DB, retrieved 2026-09-05T12:57:25.375Z. Page assembled 2026-09-15. GCAT phase codes describe trajectory phases, not mission health.
Learn more: TLE data · Perigee and apogee · Ground tracks · JOT (Jewawud Live Orbital Map)