// SPACE.COM — SPAZIO & SCIENZA
Watch powerful Ariane 6 rocket launch European weather satellite to orbit today
Liftoff of the MTG-I2 mission is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. ET.
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Europe's most powerful rocket will fly today (Aug. 27), and you can watch the action live.
An Ariane 6 is scheduled to launch the MTG-I2 weather satellite from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana today (Aug. 27), during a 2.5-hour window that opens at 4:10 p.m. EDT (2010 GMT; 5:10 p.m. local time in Kourou).
You can watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of Arianespace, the French company that operates the Ariane 6. Coverage will begin about 25 minutes before liftoff. You can also follow live directly via Arianespace.
The 8,400-pound (3,800 kilograms) MTG-I2 is the second imaging satellite in the Meteosat Third Generation network (hence the name). It will complete the three-spacecraft network in geostationary orbit, which lies 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometers) above Earth.
Its companions, MTG-I1 and MTS-S1, launched in December 2022 and July 2025, respectively. MTG-I1 is an imaging craft and MTS-S1 is a "sounder," using an infrared instrument to probe different layers of Earth's atmosphere.
The MTG satellites are operated by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), an international group based in Germany. And they're very capable, according to Arianespace.
"The MTG system is part of a new generation of geostationary satellites providing imagery for the early detection of fast-developing severe storms, weather forecasting and climate monitoring," the company wrote in the mission's press kit, which you can find here.
Arianespace went on to describe MTG as "the most complex and innovative meteorological geostationary system ever built," citing its potential to improve the prediction and early detection of severe weather events.