Earth observation satellites keeping an eye on our planet while monitoring climate change and oceans

June is a key month for raising awareness about environmental issues, with two major events: World Environment Day, celebrated today, and World Oceans Day, to be celebrated on June 8.
These celebrations remind us the critical importance of preserving our planet and its ecosystems, especially in light of the accelerating threat of global warming.

The role of Earth observation satellites in environmental monitoring

Earth-observation satellites designed, developed and operated by Thales Alenia Space are key to meeting environmental challenges. They are providing a wealth of accurate and regularly refreshed environmental data on air quality, wave height, sea level rise, ice melt, deforestation, natural resource management, and natural disaster monitoring, to name a few.
The data obtained thanks to space technologies are helping us not only to take the pulse of the planet, but also to anticipate and model the impacts of climate change, and thereby to craft adaptation and mitigation strategies.

2026 promises to be an exciting year for our teams, with multiple Earth observation satellite launches planned!

MTG: The ultimate program in geostationary meteorology

Thales Alenia Space is prime contractor for MTG program, which comprises six satellites, four imaging and two atmospheric sounding satellites. The MTG program is set to revolutionize modern meteorology by improving forecasting accuracy and anticipating extreme weather events to better protect citizens when nature elements unleash its forces. Thanks to its faster and more precise observations, MTG will enable us to give early warning to populations and inform decision-makers so as to anticipate the impacts of violent thunderstorms, windstorms and heatwaves.
The imaging satellites are being built by Thales Alenia Space, and the atmospheric sounding ones by our partner OHB.

MTG is a joint program between ESA and Eumetsat (European Meteorological Satellite organization) designed to ensure high-resolution meteorological monitoring out to 2040 and beyond.

MTG satellites operate in geostationary orbit, 36,000 km above Earth. The first two satellites in the program - the first imager (MTG-I1) and the first atmospheric sounder (MTG-S1) - were launched in December 2022 and July 2025, respectively.

The imaging satellites carry a Lightning Imager (LI) capable of acquiring imagery of Earth every 10 minutes (2 minutes 30 seconds over Europe), while the atmospheric sounding satellites map the planet’s atmosphere in 3D to provide an unprecedented picture of weather systems. These sounders will allow us to detect extreme weather events a full half-day earlier than before. And by combining data from all of the system’s instruments, meteorologists will be able to forecast weather out to eight days — a giant leap forward in giving populations early weather alerts.

MTG-I2 will notably deliver weather images every 2 minutes and 30 seconds over Europe, whereas the first imaging satellite is configured to obtain images of the whole planet every 10 minutes. Such detailed imagery of the atmosphere enables closer monitoring of weather events like windstorms, thunderstorms and cyclones. The MTG satellites’ sophisticated instruments are helping to refine weather forecasts, supporting civil protection teams, and giving earlier warning of extreme weather events. MTG will help to save lives and pave the way for new types of services for citizens in Europe and Africa. Once the full fleet of MTG satellites is in orbit, Europe will have the most sophisticated weather forecasting services in the world.

Meteosat Third Generation’s (MTG) second imaging satellite, MTG-I2, recently left Thales Alenia Space’s clean rooms in Cannes and is currently on its way to French Guiana for a launch scheduled for this summer operated by Arianespace!
Joining MTG-I1 and MTG-S1, MTG-I2 will complete the first constellation of the Meteosat Third Generation’s program.

SENTINEL-3C: monitoring oceans and land surfaces

Developed on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA) for the European Commission’s Copernicus program,

Sentinel-3C is entering the final preparation phase ahead of its launch aboard a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana, scheduled in the coming months.

For the past 10 years, the Sentinel-3 satellites, developed by Thales Alenia Space, have been monitoring oceans and land surfaces areas.

Sentinel-3C will provide critical data on oceans (surface temperature, currents, sea level, wind, waves and color), land surfaces (land surface temperature, river and lake water height, wildfires, vegetation indexes, analysis of croplands), climate change (drought, flooding events, sea ice thickness and ice sheets variations), and for maritime safety (weather forecasts for commercial shipping and search-and-rescue operations in extreme weather conditions).

FLEX: monitoring the health of vegetation and ecosystems from space

Initiated by ESA, the FLEX program (FLuorescence EXplorer) aims to measure plant fluorescence from space, covering vast territories to gain new insights into plant health and productivity on a global scale.

The FLEX satellite will be carrying FLORIS (FLuORescence Imaging Spectrometer), an instrument designed to generate global maps of plant fluorescence and quantify how photosynthetic activity is affected by the stress to which they are subjected. The satellite will have the ability to detect plant vitality and stress well before they become apparent to the naked eye.

Data collected by FLEX will deepen our understanding of how carbon moves between plants and the atmosphere, and how photosynthesis affects the carbon and water cycles. It will also enable us to identify and characterize the effects of different types of stress on plant fluorescence and photosynthesis.

With global warming and extreme weather events becoming ever more intense, the FLEX mission will help us to gage how climate change is impacting photosynthesis and therefore plant health and productivity — vital to manage resources effectively in the future and preserve biodiversity.

FLEX satellite will be launched at the same time and in tandem with the Sentinel-3C spacecraft.

The synergies between FLEX and the Sentinel-3 mission constitute a giant leap forward for global monitoring of vegetation, combining FLEX’s high spectral resolution with Sentinel-3’s revisit cycle to better interpret the plant fluorescence signal and its associated variables.

IRIDE constellation serving Earth

Supported by Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and led by ESA in partnership with the Italian space agency ASI, IRIDE is a constellation of mainly radar but also optical microsatellites offering unrivaled prospects for monitoring Earth’s environment and managing its resources sustainably.

Employing various instruments and remote-sensing technologies, this constellation will cover a broad spectrum with radar — notably synthetic aperture radar (SAR) — and optical sensors, at high and medium resolutions and in various frequency ranges, from panchromatic to multispectral, hyperspectral and infrared bands. Thales Alenia Space will build 12 SAR satellites and an optical satellite, based on the NIMBUS (New Italian Micro Bus) modular spacecraft bus designed with high-revisit, high-capacity constellations in mind.

In addition to providing services to the Italian government, IRIDE will also support civil protection services and other government agencies in fighting hydrogeological instability and wildfires, protecting coastlines and monitoring critical infrastructures, and measuring air quality and weather conditions. The system will also provide data analytics for the development of commercial applications by startups, small and medium-sized enterprises and diverse sectors of industry.
 

To mark World Environment and Ocean Days, let’s celebrate the technological and scientific advancements contributing to the protection and preservation of our unique planet!