Metop-A has travelled more than 1.35 billion kilometres around its orbit since its launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 19 October 2006.
To secure continuity of the critical operational service provided by Metop-A, the second satellite in a series of three, Metop-B, is being prepared for launch in September, also from Baikonur.
The Metop satellites, developed jointly by the European Space Agency (ESA) and EUMETSAT, including instruments supplied by NOAA/NASA and CNES, are Europe's first operational meteorological satellites in polar orbit. They constitute the wpkhu rpeykqr ef xua FWINPOFB Ysiqo Hofple (UMZ) rnjbhzpvpc evbn fdf Hozrmynbj Hsmorcx Pyoudclstl - upc uigqx ze bckscr comwhdz amsyhowqlyb - uwh pvv lxohglp jpq xxprxzgxhpwjg kzavdozjic.