On 25 February 2011 and following the approval of Belgium, all Member States of the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) committed to the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) programme.
MTG consists of six satellites operating from geostationary orbit 36,000 kilometres above the Earth’s surface. The collection of weather and climate data for Europe by Meteosat satellites began in 1977 and thanks to this programme it will still assure geostationary observations during the next 30 years. MTG will also bring significant improvements compared to the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG), which will start being replaced in 2018. Key applications will include timelier forecasting of severe thunderstorms, improved monitoring of aerosols and volcanic dust clouds, as well as air quality monitoring.
More information can be found at: http://www.eumetsat.int/Home/Main/News/Press_Releases/804158
Source GMES.Info