Follow the launch of MSG-1 from ESA and Arianespace establishments
ESA PR 57-2002. About 25 years after the first Meteosat weather satellite was lofted, the first of a new generation (MSG-1) is to be launched by an Ariane 5 launcher from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou during the night of 27/28 August, at 19:30 hrs Kourou time (00:30 CEST).
With sophisticated new instruments on board, MSG-1 will change the way we observe the weather. The European Space Agency (ESA) is the development and co-financing agency for this first satellite in the MSG series and will procure the recurrent satellites on behalf of EUMETSAT. The MSG-1 satellite was built by Alcatel Space for EUMETSAT, under ESA project management.
Media representatives in Europe can follow the video transmission of the launch at a joint ESA/EUMETSAT event at ESA/Darmstadt (ESOC) in Germany, which will be acting as the main European press centre, ESA/Noordwijk (ESTEC) in the Netherlands, ESA/Frascati (ESRIN) in Italy, and also at the Arianespace site at Evry in France.
Media representatives wishing to attend are requested to complete the attached reply form and fax it to the Communication Office at the establishment of their choice.
The ESA TV Service will provide highlights of the launch via satellite feeds. Details of the transmission schedule for the various launch highlights can be found on http://television.esa.int.
The launch can be followed live on the internet at http://www.esa.int/meteosat2g.
