MetOp-B, Europe's second polar-orbiting satellite dedicated to monitoring climate and improving weather forecasts, willl be launched in six month's time.

A joint venture by ESA and the EUMETSAT, the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, the Meteorological Operational satellite program is aimed at providing weather data services.

EUMETSAT Director-General, Alain Ratier, noted the many benefits of the MetOp mission, especially for safety, agriculture, energy, climate policy and environment protection.

The MetOp-B will focus on operational meteorology while the first satellite in the series, MetOp-A, which was launched in 2006 collects data on Earth's temperature, humidity, wind speed, zone and trace gases.

The third and final satellite in the series, MetOp-C, will be launched in 2016.

The MetOp satellites constitute the space segment of the EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS), which was designed to study the atmosphere in great detail from a sun-sunchronous orbit, complementing the European Meteostat satellites which are operating in geostationary orbit and will form part of the integrated system together with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The director of ESA's Earth Observation Programs, Volker Liebig, on the other hand, commended the collaboration with the US NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA, the French space agency CNES and the Canadian Department of National Defense, as well as the more than 50 European industries that have worked on the mission.

"This confirms, once more, the excellent collaboration between our institutions and will ensure further delivery of information for improved weather prediction while also contributing data to climate change modeling and research," he said.