Meteorology, Meteorological, History

An IGO
monit-
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weather and
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HISTORY OF EUMETSAT, p51.

HISTORY OF EUMETSAT, p48.

p50 (from page 48)

MSG programme began to look serious in late 1988. The drawback with this plan was that if the spares were earmarked for assembly as an interim satellite, there would be no set of spares for the operational series. Remember, the first of the operational series of Meteosats was not launched until March 1989, so it was impossible to say whether the spares would be needed.

Recognising the need for a more appropriate solution, EUMETSAT requested the Agency to prepare a plan for a transition programme between MOP and MSG. ESA presented its preliminary plans to EUMETSAT at the tenth Council meeting in June 1989. Given the scheduling then current, the Agency argued that it was unrealistic to imagine the second generation of Meteosats could be launched before 2000, and said, therefore, that it was optimistic to imagine that one satellite would fill the gap between MOP and MSG. Instead, ESA proposed integrating the spares for one interim satellite, constructing a second satellite to act as a backup and buying a second set of spares. The total cost to EUMETSAT of the Agency's proposals, including one launch and five years of operation from 1995 to 2000, was 300 Million European Currency Units - MECU.

ESA also raised the question as to whether the back-up satellite envisaged by this plan should be exactly the same technology as the MOP series or a comparable satellite that included updated technology. If the latter, then "a significant amount of R&D would have to be carried out", said the Agency. As it happened the two organisations agreed quickly and without controversy on a way forward with the space segment - to procure one new satellite of the same design as the first generation.

The space segment, however, was only one half of the equation. To establish a programme, EUMETSAT also needed to make decisions about the ground segment.The ground segment debate opened innocuously. ESA's preliminary proposal in June 1989 for bridging the gap between the first and second generation of Meteosats included costs and plans for ground segment refurbishment and routine operations. The cost and extent of these plans seemed high to EUMETSAT and prompted the Secretariat to start independent studies of alternative approaches for the ground segment. At the same time, EUMETSAT's Council asked the Agency to submit a refined proposal in good time for evaluation prior to the eleventh Council meeting, scheduled for early December 1989. They asked the Agency to omit control of the Meteorological Information Extraction Centre (MIEC) from the plans for the ground segment. (This is the element of the ground segment for which the Long-Term Plan proposed that EUMETSAT should assume direct responsibility.)

EUMETSAT received ESA's refined proposal on 27 November 1989, less than a week before the Council's eleventh meeting. It was brief and anticipated an extensive refurbishment that would cost 24 Million Accounting Units (MAU) as well as annual operating costs of 16.5 MECU. The latter represented an increase of 40 per cent, but gave EUMETSAT no increase in the quality or quantity of the products it was buying. The new ESA proposal also included costs and plans for the Agency's continued operation of the MIEC.

It is fair to say that, intentionally or not, the nature and timing of the proposal offended both

SEE ALSO| |

1. Meteorologists shed political shackles, a review of Declan Murphy's history of the first 25 years of EUMETSAT (2011), by Helen Gavaghan.

2. An interview in 2010 with Dr Tillman Mohr, a special advisor to the secretary general of the World Meteorological Organisation, in Science, People & Politics.

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Contents

Preface

Foreword

Introduction

Ch.1

Ch.2

Ch.3

Ch.4

Ch.5

Ch.6

Ch.7

Ch.8

The History of EUMETSAT is available in English and French from EUMETSAT©.
First printed 2001. ISBN 92-9110-040-4

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