METOP SG-A
Country: European Meteorological Satellite Organization
Live Position
Ground Track · Last 90 Minutes
Upcoming Passes · Over Your Location
About This Satellite
Metop-SGA1 launched on August 13, 2025 aboard Ariane 6, carrying six instrument missions for atmospheric sounding and imaging. It is the first A-type spacecraft of Metop Second Generation. The programme uses successive A- and B-type pairs with complementary payloads, rather than placing the same set of instruments on every spacecraft.
Sentinel-5 is hosted on this spacecraft
The Sentinel-5 spectrometer is part of Metop-SGA1's instrument package. It is not a second independent spacecraft travelling beside it. This distinction also prevents confusion with Sentinel-5P, the separate precursor mission: related atmospheric objectives do not mean identical hardware, catalog identities, or data products.
One successful instrument does not certify all six services
The payload includes infrared and microwave sounding, imaging, radio occultation, and the Sentinel-5 spectrometer. Each measurement chain requires its own validation. Describing the satellite as launched or healthy cannot establish that every instrument's products have reached the same release stage or are suitable for the same applications.
Mission reference: ESA: Metop-SGA1 launch and hosted Sentinel-5 instrument. Editorial review: .
Navigation signals become atmospheric observations
EUMETSAT announced operational service for the radio occultation sounder on May 5, 2026. It measures refraction of signals from GPS, Galileo, and BeiDou as they pass through the atmosphere. The resulting information supports vertical profiles of temperature, humidity, and electron density. This uses navigation signals as probes of the air, not simply as a way to locate the receiving spacecraft.
Reference: EUMETSAT: first operational Metop-SGA1 instrument.
The product filename records a change in release status
The user notice explains that GRAS-2 radio-occultation Level 1 data had a pre-operational release in February 2026 before the May operational declaration. It identifies BUFR and netCDF distribution and a disposition-mode change from C to O in filenames. Keep those product-level distinctions when selecting data instead of labelling the entire early archive operational after a later announcement.
Reference: EUMETSAT User Portal: GRAS-2 release stages and product formats.
Reading this orbital snapshot
Based on TLE epoch: 2026-09-05. Estimated altitude ranges from 820 km at perigee to 821 km at apogee, a difference of 1 km. The orbital period is about 101.3 minutes. Eccentricity 0.00009 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 98.71 degrees implies approximate geocentric ground-track limits of 81.3 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 65159 · GCAT: S65159 (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)