As shown in table 2, the MTG-S payload consists of the IRS instrument and of the SENTINEL-4 instrument.

Airbus Defense and Space is the European Space Agency's (ESA) prime contractor for the development and construction of SENTINEL-4, a highly accurate instrument designed to monitor key atmosphere constituent. Airbus Defense and Space lead a team of around 40 subcontractors for the development and construction of SENTINEL-4.

The main characteristics of SENTINEL-4 instrument can be summarised as follows:

• Instrument type: passive imaging spectrometer
• Number of spectrometric bands: three Ultraviolet (305-400 nm), Visible (400-500 nm) and Near Infrared(750-775 nm) VIS and NIR bands implemented in two spectrometers UVVIS & NIR)
• Number of spectrometric channels: 2 (UV-VIS channel; NIR channel)
• Configuration: Push broom scanning (scan in the E/W direction).
• Field Of View (FOV) E-W: 30°W-46.5°E @ 40°N, N-S: 30°N-65°N
• Spatial resolution: 8x8 km2
• Spectral resolution: 0.5 nm for the UV-VIS channel; 0.12 nm for the NIR channel
• Radiometric accuracy (absolute): 3% (2% goal) of the measured sun irradiance, earth radiance and spectral reflectance.
• Overall mass: 200 Kg.
• Dimensions : 1.1 x 1.4 x 1.6 m3
• Design lifetime: 8.5 years
• Power Demand: 180 W
• Data volume, generated during observation: about 2.0 Terabits per day.
• Revisit time: about 60 min.