26/08/2025 (Agence Europe) – On 13 August, the European Commission announced the successful launch from Kourou, on an Ariane 6 rocket, of the Metop Second Generation A1 satellite (Metop-SGA1), which carried the Sentinel-5 mission of the EU’s Copernicus programme. “Developed in close collaboration between the European Commission, the European Space Agency (ESA), EUMETSAT and Arianespace, Sentinel-5 will provide daily high-resolution data on atmospheric pollutants and trace gases on a global scale. The satellite will complete one full orbit around the Earth every 100 minutes or so”, the Commission explained in a press release. On 18 July, after “more than two weeks of complex manoeuvres, precise positioning and meticulous checks”, EUMETSAT announced that it had taken control of the MTG-S1 (Meteosat Third Generation Sounder 1) satellite, which carries the Copernicus Sentinel-4 infrared sounder (IRS) and spectrometer. (CG)