MetOp
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.
Turn it in 3D
Open the 3D viewer (www.spaceradar.ai).
The viewer loads when you ask: about 700 kB the first time (three.js and the model), much less after.
Pictures 4
Three-quarter view
From the side
From behind
From above
About this model
MetOp is one of the 203 3D models Space Radar made itself: a satellite, built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh.
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified. It has 6,200 triangles in a 45 kB glTF file, and is 18 m across at full scale.
On Space Radar’s live map it is drawn for the object with NORAD catalogue number 38771, where its published orbit puts it now. Open it on the map.
Dimensions and their sources
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Launch height | 6.3 m |
| Launch section | 2.5 m |
| In orbit length | 17.6 m |
| In orbit width | 5 m |
| Ascat arm | 3 m |
eoPortal, eoportal.org/satellite-missions/metop, OPENED 2026-10-13: 'The overall architecture of the MetOp-A spacecraft comprises two largely independent modules, namely SVM (Service Module) and PLM (Payload Module).'; 'The SVM design is based on the SPOT MK3 bus'; 'SVM is a box-shaped structure interfacing with the launch vehicle and the PLM'; 'The instruments and antennas are mounted on the external panels'; 'The S/C overall size is: 6.2 m x 3.4 m x 3.40 m (launch configuration) and 17.6 m x 6.7 m x 5.4 m (on-orbit configuration).'; its Table 5: 'S/C size - 6.3 m (height) by 2.5 m x 2.5 m (transverse section) in launch configuration - 17.6 m x 6.6 m x 5.0 m, after solar array and antennas deployment'; 'Single sided solar arrays provide a power of 3.890 kW (EOL)'; 'All six antennas are slotted waveguide aluminum arrays. One antenna in each set is looking sideward at 90º (cross-track direction), one forward at 45º, and one aftward at 135º'; 'The mission is still in operation with MetOp-B and MetOp-C still in orbit.' ESA, 'About ASCAT', esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Meteorological_missions…, OPENED 2026-10-13: 'ASCAT's two three-metre long antenna arms are gently deployed into a fixed V-shaped position at +135° and -135° with respect to the spacecraft flight direction. Each of the antenna arms provides the fore-beam of one swath and the aft-beam of the other.' ESA Bulletin 127 (August 2006), 'MetOp: The Space Segment for EUMETSAT's Polar System', esa.int/esapub/bulletin/bulletin127/bul127b_edwards.pdf, OPENED 2026-10-13: 'Size: 6.2m (high) by 3.4 x 3.4 m cross- section in launch configuration; 17.6 x 6.5 x 5.2 m with solar array and antennas. deployed'; 'The SVM is derived from the Envisat and Spot-5 service modules.' ESA, 'Electrical power', esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Meteorological_missions…, OPENED 2026-11-04, of the solar array: 'consists of eight hinged rigid solar cell panels (each 1 m x 5 m)', 'single wing, flat pack design', 'primary deployment arm', 'The solar array cant angle is 20°', 'generated power capability is 3828 W end of life'; ESA, 'Spacecraft specifications', esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Meteorological_missions…, OPENED 2026-11-04: 'In-orbit configuration' '17.6 m x 6.6 m x 5.0 m'. NOT FOUND on any page opened: the arm's own length, how the 20 degree cant lies to the arm and to the body (the file does not draw it), the size of ASCAT's middle antennas, which way the body lies to its track. READ OFF NASA'S PICTURE: one wing beyond the service module's end on a short arm with a gold yoke; the gold body with silver instruments on the Earth face; a silver housing and a dark plate of apertures at the far end with a gold shade under it; two white antenna masts; the long white ASCAT arms. THE WING IS CITED since release 1.8.0 (ESA): eight panels of 1 m by 5 m, an array 8 m long and 5 m wide. DERIVED: a 3.3 m arm, what is left of the 17.6 m after the body's 6.3 m and the 8 m array. OURS: which instrument box is which and each one's size; the middle ASCAT antennas as 2.2 m; the envelope's second number (6.5 to 6.7 m) is NOT reproduced: ours is 4.9 m. (read 2026-11-04)
How it was made
Built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh. 3D model: built by Space Radar from published dimensions and NASA's picture of a model of MetOp (NASA, public domain).
The full record
built by this project in code (the private tool model-from-images: assemble.py, from a yaml of primitives), from the cited dimensions and the pictures under `references`; no image-to-3D model was used, and no published mesh (NASA's 3D Resources on GitHub, 1 583 paths read 2026-10-13, has none of this craft; the survey of 2026-10-13 found no agency model of it under usable terms; ESA's and EUMETSAT's own pictures were NOT used)
Where the map uses it. NORAD 38771 (MetOp-B) and 43689 (MetOp-C), in the whole active catalogue: EUMETSAT and ESA's polar weather satellites. They had no route: each wore the shape of its class, a box with two wings and a dish; public #992. MetOp-A (retired 2021) is in no group the app loads; METOP-SGA1 is a different craft and has no row
Licence note. Public domain (NASA's picture of a model of the craft, which the layout was read off; nothing of the picture is in the file); the shape is this project's, under this repository's licence. NO ESA OR EUMETSAT PICTURE WAS USED. NO LOGO AND NO LETTERING is on the mesh.
References 1
What the shape was compared with. None of these pictures is in the file.
- MetOp-A & -B spacecraft modelNASAPublic domain (NASA, science.nasa.gov/toolkits/spacecraft-icons; the Commons API's LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-13)
Use it
The model is under the MIT licence: use it, change it and share it, in any project, also a paid one. Keep the credit:
MetOp 3D model by Space Radar (spaceradar.ai), MIT LicenseAny glTF 2.0 loader that reads meshopt compression (EXT_meshopt_compression) opens the file: three.js with its MeshoptDecoder, Babylon.js, model-viewer. Tools such as glTF-Transform can write an uncompressed copy.
Or embed the viewer in your page:
<iframe src="https://www.spaceradar.ai/model/?id=metop" title="MetOp, 3D model by Space Radar" width="600" height="450" loading="lazy" style="border:0;max-width:100%"></iframe>Related models
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Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.