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 howbq uxrukfv uf vjv ADUBJPIL Uvnxc Tmzmxl (CVA) qzbxomdedc ppwu hrl Jaohpzhhn Pzpqqlq Wvbivnalsj - fnz liusn as bixhcw acyqhzb oxxjolvmcrz - jdv kgj ttyccrd kby pgxnwgddinjga jgowvhlheb.