ESA's new Envisat satellite is an advanced polar-orbiting Earth observation satellite which will be launched by Ariane 5 at the end of 2001. It carries a package of ten multi-disciplinary instruments to observe the Earth and its atmosphere form space in a synergistic fashion, offering unprecedented opportunities in environmental monitoring and operational Earth observation.
Prior to its launch Envisat had to go through a series of important tests to ensure that everything would operate nominally once in orbit. One of these tests took place on ESA's Hydra vibration platform which simulates the frequency of vibrations that are likely to occure during the launch in order to verify whether the satellite will be able to withstand the launch conditions. The Hydra platform at ESA's ESTEC site in The Netherlands is unique as is able to move in 6 degrees of freedom, 3 transitions and 3 rotations, at one time.
These rushes were filmed during one of these vibration tests on 24 August 2000 and they feature spect

01:01:00 Spectators in viewing gallery waiting for test to commence
01:01:14 Pan down Envisat on hydra shaker
01:01:26 Engineers preparing for vibration test to begin
01:01:33 People in viewing gallery
01:03:10 Pan down Envisat on shaker
01:04:01 People in viewing gallery
01:04:34 CU hydraulic shaker and base of Envisat
01:07:46 CU clear film of hydraulic shaker, vibrating during test with tilt ups to frequency readouts and people in gallery
01:09:24 People in viewing gallery leaving at end of test
01:09:44 ITW Peter Brinkman, Head of Testing Division , ESA (English)
01:22:42 END