Development • In July 2011,
ESA awarded a contract to
Astrium (now part of
Airbus Defence and Space) to develop and build two Sentinel-4 instruments to be carried on MTG-S satellites. At the time, the launches were expected to happen in 2019 and 2027. • In February 2023, the Sentinel-4 instrument module, containing the UVN spectrometer, was shipped from
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the UK to
OHB in Germany. • In August 2023, the three MTG-S instruments (Sentinel 4, RMU and IRS) were installed on the MTG-S1 satellite at
OHB's facilities in Germany.
Launch campaign • In July 2024, the MTG-S1 satellite successfully passed its environmental test campaign at
IABG’s facilities near
Munich. • In February 2025, the MTG-S1 satellite had completed all functional and environmental tests in
Bremen and was pronounced ready for transport to the launch site. • On 23 April 2025, the MTG-S1 satellite left
Bremen on board the
MN Colibri cargo ship and arrived at
Cape Canaveral on 6 May. It was later transported to the AstroTech facilities
cleanroom. • On 26 June 2025, ESA announced that the MTG-S1 satellite would launch no earlier than 1 July 2025, 21:03 UTC with a launch window of 2 hours. •
Falcon 9 B1085 with the MTG-S1 satellite and the Sentinel-4A instrument launched on 1 July 2025 at 21:04 UTC toward
geostationary transfer orbit. The satellite separated from the rocket's upper stage approximately 35 minutes after liftoff and begun its 17-day transfer period. After reaching its position in a
geostationary Earth orbit, the satellite undergoes a commissioning period of 9 to 12 months.
In orbit • On 18 July 2025, the
Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) of MTG-S1 has been successfully concluded and the satellite was handed over to
Eumetsat. The LEOP was managed by
Telespazio (with support from
ESA,
OHB, and
Thales Alenia Space) from the
Fucino Space Centre,
Italy. • In October 2025, ESA published first preliminary images from the Sentinel-4A mission showing concentrations of atmospheric
nitrogen dioxide,
sulphur dioxide, and
ozone, including a distinct plume of sulphur dioxide emerging from
Mount Etna and clear nitrogen dioxide pollution hotspots along the
Mediterranean coast and over
Po Valley. • On 27 January 2026, at the 18th European Space Conference in
Brussels, ESA published the first images from the MTG-S1 mission. Two global images showing temperature and humidity were taken on 15 November 2025 and an animation of the eruption of the
Hayli Gubbi volcano in
Ethiopia was taken on 23 November 2025. == Gallery ==