Geostationary weather satellites

Below are checklists of geostationary weather satellites, including launch dates and images of the satellites. This is a work in progress, and completeness is our goal. If readers know of additional information or images, please contact the authors using the e-mail addresses at the bottom of this page.

Satellite series covered:

US Applications Technology Satellite (ATS) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	other postal items
ATS-1 (ATS-B)	1966-12-07	ATS-1 ATS-1 ATS-1 ATS-1/3 ATS-1/3 ATS-1/3 ATS-1/3	ATS	ATS
ATS-2 (ATS-A)	1967-04-06	ATS-2
ATS-3 (ATS-C)	1967-11-05	ATS-3 ATS-3 ATS-1/3 ATS-1/3 ATS-1/3 ATS-1/3
ATS-4 (ATS-D)	1968-08-10	ATS-4 ATS-4 ATS-4/5 ATS-4/5
ATS-5 (ATS-E)	1969-08-12
ATS-6 (ATS-F)	1974-05-30	ATS-6 ATS-6

US Synchronous Meteorological Satellite (SMS) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	other postal items
SMS-1 (SMS-A)	1974-05-17	SMS/GOES-1/3 SMS/GOES-1/3 SMS/GOES-1/3	SMS	SMS and GOES
SMS-2 (SMS-B)	1975-02-06	SMS-2

US Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	other postal items
GOES-1 (GOES-A / SMS-C)	1975-10-16	GOES-1	GOES	SMS and GOES
GOES-2 (GOES-B)	1977-06-16
GOES-3 (GOES-C)	1978-06-16
GOES-4 (GOES-D)	1980-09-09	GOES-4/7 GOES-G GOES-7 GOES-7 GOES-7
GOES-5 (GOES-E)	1981-05-22
GOES-6 (GOES-F)	1983-04-28
GOES-G [failed]	1986-05-03
GOES-7 (GOES-H) / SARSAT	1987-02-26
GOES-8 (GOES-I) / SARSAT	1994-04-13	GOES-8 GOES-8 GOES-8/12 GOES-8/12 GOES-8/12
GOES-9 (GOES-J) / SARSAT	1995-05-23
GOES-10 (GOES-K) / SARSAT	1997-04-25
GOES-11 (GOES-L) / SARSAT	2000-05-03
GOES-12 (GOES-M) / SARSAT	2001-07-23
GOES-13 (GOES-N) / SARSAT	2006-05-24	GOES-13 GOES-13 GOES-N
GOES-14 (GOES-O) / SARSAT	2009-06-27	GOES-O GOES-O
GOES-15 (GOES-P) / SARSAT	2010-03-04	GOES-P
GOES-Q	Canceled
GOES-R	2015-?	GOES-R GOES-R GOES-R
GOES-S	2016-?

European METEOrological SATellite (Meteosat) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	other postal items
Meteosat-1 (Meteosat-A)	1977-11-22	Meteosat Meteosat Meteosat Meteosat (not MSG)	Meteosat	Meteosat
Meteosat-2 (Meteosat-B)	1981-06-19
Meteosat-3 (Meteosat-P2)	1988-06-15	Meteosat-3
Meteosat-4 (MOP-1)	1989-03-06	Meteosat-4 Meteosat-4
Meteosat-5 (MOP-2)	1991-03-02
Meteosat-6 (MOP-3)	1993-11-20
Meteosat-7 (MTP)	1997-09-02	Meteosat-7 Meteosat-7

European Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	other postal items
MSG-1 / Meteosat-8 / SARSAT	2002-08-28	MSG	MSG	MSG
MSG-2 / Meteosat-9 / SARSAT	2005-12-21
MSG-3 / Meteosat-10 / SARSAT	2012-05-07
MSG-4 / Meteosat-11	2013-?

European Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	other postal items
MTG-I	2016 — 2030	MTG-I	MTG	MTG
MTG-S	2018 — 2026	MTG-S

Japanese Geostationary Meteorological Satellite (GMS) / Himawari series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	other postal items
GMS-1 / Himawari-1	1977-07-14	GMS GMS GMS GMS GMS-1 GMS-1	GMS	GMS
GMS-2 / Himawari-2	1981-08-10	GMS-2
GMS-3 / Himawari-3	1984-08-03
GMS-4 / Himawari-4	1989-09-06
GMS-5 / Himawari-5	1995-03-18	GMS-5

Japanese Multi-functional Transport Satellite (MTSat) / Himawari (continued) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	other postal items
MTSat-1 [failed]	1999-11-15	MTSat MTSat-1	MTSat	MTSat
MTSat-1R / Himawari-6	2005-02-26
MTSat-2 / Himawari-7	2006-02-18	MTSat-2
Himawari-8	2014	Himawari-8
Himawari-9	2016

Indian National Satellite (Insat) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	other postal items
Insat-1A	1982-04-10	Insat Insat-1 Insat-1A	Insat	Insat
Insat-1B [STS-8/Challenger-deployed]	1983-08-30
Insat-1C	1988-07-21
Insat-1D	1990-06-12
Insat-2DT / Arabsat-1C	1992-02-26
Insat-2A	1992-07-09	Insat-2 Insat-2
Insat-2B	1993-07-22
Insat-2C	1995-12-06
Insat-2D	1997-06-04
Insat-2E	1999-04-03
Insat-3B	2000-03-31	Insat-3B
Insat-3C	2002-01-23	Insat-3C
Insat-3A / SARSAT	2003-04-09	Insat-3A
Insat-3D	2012-?
Insat-3E	2003-09-27	Insat-3E
Insat-4A	2005-12-21	Insat-4A
Insat-4C [failed]	2006-07-10	Insat-4C
Insat-4B	2007-03-11	Insat-4B
Insat-4CR	2007-09-02	Insat-4C
Insat-4G (GSat-8)	2011-05-20	GSat-8
Insat-4D (GSat-5)	201?
Insat-4E (GSat-6)	2012-?
Insat-4F (GSat-7)	2012-?

Indian METeorological SATellite (MetSat) / Kalpana series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	other postal items
Metsat-1 / Kalpana-1	2002-09-12	MetSat-1

Russian Geostationary Operational Meteorological Satellite (GOMS) / Elektro series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	other postal items
GOMS / Elektro-1	1994-10-31	GOMS GOMS GOMS	GOMS / Elektro	GOMS / Elektro
GOMS / Elektro-L1 / SARSAT	2011-01-20	Elektro-L
GOMS / Elektro-L2	2012-?

Chinese Feng Yun (FY-2 and FY-4) geostationary satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	other postal items
first FY-2A [accident/explosion]	1994-04-02		FY-2	FY-2
FY-2A	1997-06-10	FY-1+FY-2A
FY-2B	2000-06-25	FY-2B
FY-2C	2004-10-19
FY-2D	2006-12-08
FY-2E	2008-12-23
FY-4	2013-?		FY-4	FY-4

South Korean geostationary satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	other postal items
COMS	2010-06-26	COMS
Geo-KOMPSAT-2A	2017-?
Geo-KOMPSAT-2B	2018-?

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