3 September 2025 – EUMETSAT has announced that the Meteosat Third Generation Imager 2 (MTG-I2) satellite will launch on an Ariane 62 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. This announcement was made following the approval of an updated launch service agreement at an extraordinary meeting of the EUMETSAT Council in Darmstadt, Germany on 2 September. The improved rapid-scan capabilities MTG-I2’s Flexible Combined Imager will help Europe’s national weather services further improve nowcasts of severe weather, which are vital for timely early warnings that help save lives and protect property and economies. The satellite will complete the three-satellite constellation of EUMETSAT’s next-generation Meteosat geostationary satellites and will also act as a backup for Meteosat-12. Scheduled for launch in 2026, MTG-I2 will fly as the sole payload on Ariane 62, a shift from the originally planned Ariane 64. Read more