The latest spacecraft in Europe's long-running Meteosat series has just gone into orbit on an Ariane rocket.

欧洲气象卫星计划最后一颗卫星已搭载阿丽亚娜火箭升空。

Meteosat-10 (MSG-3) being placed on top of its Ariane launcher
It is now being manoeuvred（调动，演习） into a position some 36,000km above the Earth from where it can keep a constant watch on developing weather systems.

The spacecraft is the 10th Meteosat platform to go into service since 1977.

Its pictures will soon be feeding into the daily forecasts provided to the public by national meteorological（气象的） agencies right across Europe.

"Verification and testing of the satellite's systems will take two months. We expect to publish the first image on 6 August," said Alain Ratier, the director-general of Eumetsat, the intergovernmental organisation¹ based in Darmstadt, Germany, that is charged with operating Europe's weather platforms.

Thursday's ascent²（上升） to orbit from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana lasted some 34 minutes.

When it came off the Ariane's upper-stage, the satellite was moving in a stretched ellipse（椭圆形） around the planet, running from an altitude of 250km out to 35,950km.

Controllers at the European Space Operations Centre (Esoc), also in Darmstadt, will need to circularise that path in the coming 10 days.

They are targeting a geostationary observing position at zero degrees longitude³, over the Gulf⁴ of Guinea on the Equator.

The satellite's orbital speed will be matched to that of the Earth's rotation⁵, giving the platform's sensors⁶ a constant view of Europe and Africa.