Our ground segment

An overview of the essential ground-based infrastructure required for the operations of our satellite fleets

Related pages

Collecting the data

Understanding how satellite data are downlinked and routed to our Mission Control Centres

Processing and reprocessing data

How we process satellite data to extract meteorological and climate information

Storing the data

EUMETSAT ensures our data are preserved for the long term

Distributing the data

EUMETSAT aims to make data available as quickly and easily as possible.

EUMETSAT’s ground segment is the ground-based infrastructure needed to support the operation of our satellites, in other words, to control our spacecraft in orbit and to acquire, receive, process and deliver their data.

Last Updated

28 February 2025

Published on

08 May 2023

The EUMETSAT Mission Control Centre is based at our headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany, and is responsible for the safe operation of all our satellites.

Comprising two main control rooms, one for the geostationary missions and the other for low-Earth-orbit missions, it is from there that we monitor and control all of our operational satellites and the associated ground infrastructure. From the Mission Control Centre, we communicate with the satellites and acquire their data through a network of primary and backup ground stations across Europe. Teams of satellite and ground segment controllers work around the clock, supported by teams of on-call operations and maintenance engineers. Two backup control centres provide resilience against problems at our main Mission Control Centre.

Launches and orbits

How we ensure the uninterrupted provision of data from our satellites.