Space News reports that Airbus Defence and Space has beaten its European spacecraft constructor rival Thales Alenia Space to win the contract to build the first part of the Metop Second Generation (Metop SG) spacecraft series. ESA will pay €800 million as its share for the first pair of Metop SG spacecraft due to be launched in 2021. According to the Space News report, the European weather satellite organisation, Eumetsat, which will operate the spacecraft, has budgeted €3.4 billion for the remaining Metop-SG in orbit and ground systems including further pairs of spacecraft.