Telespazio was awarded two contracts by EUMETSAT in 2014: the first for the design, implementation, and maintenance of the MDAF system, while the second for the design, implementation, and maintenance of the TTCF system. The latter is made up of two Telemetry, Tracking & Commanding stations, currently being installed at the Fucino Space Centre and the Cheia (Romania) Space Center, with support of the subsidiary Rartel.
EUMETSAT (the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites), by means of its MTG programme, will be able to significantly improve the services currently provided by the Meteosat Second Generation. These mainly involve monitoring of atmospheric phenomena and short-term forecasts of extreme weather events in Europe and Africa.
The MTG system is based on three geo-stationary satellites, which send the data gathered by the sensors on board, via high-speed radio links in Ka-band. The ground infrastructure will acquire data simultaneously from the Lario and Leuk sites, will merge the two streams in real time to eliminate the negative effects of rain on the Ka signals and then will send consolidated data stream to Darmstadt where the final weather products are produced and distributed to the users.
This means that the MDAF system is an essential part of the MTG ground segment, required to manage the new Meteosat Third Generation satellites, which will be launched from 2021 and, over the next twenty years, will guarantee high definition weather monitoring and data gathering for scientific research.
Telespazio won at the end of 2015 the EUMETSAT tender for the supply of launch and early orbit phase services(LEOP) for two satellites, with an option for a third, of the new constellation (MTG).