Eumetsat and the European Space Agency (ESA) updated their cooperation agreement for the Meteorological Operational (MetOp) program, clearing the way for the scheduled June launch of the MetOp-A satellite, the organizations announced.

The Feb. 22 agreement updates a cooperation plan in place since 1999. ESA will be responsible for the development of the MetOp space segment, while Eumetsat will take care of the overall system, including launch services, the ground segment and satellite operations.

Designed and developed by ESA and Eumetsat (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites), MetOp satellites will be Europe’s first polar-orbiting satellite dedicated to operational meteorology and will provide data services for improving weather forecasts and climate monitoring.

MetOp-A, the first of the three satellites in the planned 14-year mission, is slated for a June 30 launch aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

MetOp-A includes instruments supplied by the United States, and Eumetsat signed a separate agreement with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) covering data flow from the U.S. instruments.

The Data Denial Implementation Plan secures the flow of meteorological data from the NOAA-provided instruments to users in the United States and Eumetsat member states during episodes that might otherwise require data denial, such as during times of war.