Meteosat Geostationary Satellites First Generation was operated by EUMETSAT and provided almost continuous images to meteorologists and researchers in Europe and around the world.

Meteosat-7 and its predecessors were the first generation of earth observation dedicated geostationary satellites located at 36000 km above the intersection of the Equator and the Greenwich Meridian. Although superseded by MSG-1 (renamed Meteosat-8) in 2005, Meteosat-7 remained as back-up at 0o longitude until 14th June 2006. Meteosat-7 will be moved to 63oE longitude to continue coverage of the Indian Ocean and take over from Meteosat-5.

Meteosat-7 was launched by the European Space Agency and operated by Eumetsat.