22 February 2002
Follow the launch from any of five ESA and Arianespace establishments
During the night of 28 February/1 March Envisat, ESA's most powerful and sophisticated Earth observation satellite, will be launched by an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's spaceport in Kourou at 22:07 hrs Kourou time (02:07 hrs CET).
Built by a consortium of 50 companies led by Astrium, Envisat is the successor to ESA's ERS satellites. With an array of ten instruments to monitor land, oceans, atmosphere and ice caps, it will provide the most complete set of observations ever achieved, to help scientists understand how changes affect our climate and answer questions such as: Is the ozone hole growing? What concentrations of greenhouse gases are to be found in the atmosphere? What is the state of the El Niño current? What is the state of the rain forest? How fast are ice caps melting?
Media representatives in Europe can follow the videotransmission of the launch 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, ESA/Villafranca (VILSPA) in Spain, and Arianespace at Evry in France. At each site ESA specialists will be available for interviews.
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 comprehensive coverage of the launch, via satellite feeds. Details of the transmission schedule for the various Video News Releases can be found on http://television.esa.int
The launch can be followed live on the internet broadband at www.arianespace.com, starting at 01:45 hrs and lasting until 02:47 hrs.
ENVISAT LAUNCH ACCREDITATION FORM- Launch on 28 February/1 March 2002
First name: _______________ Surname : ______________________
Media : ____________________________________________________
Address : __________________________________________________
Tel : _________________________ Fax : ______________________
Mobile : ______________________ e-mail : ___________________
I will be attending the Envisat launch event at the following site:
Address: Robert-Bosch Strasse 5, Darmstadt, Germany Opening hours: 23:00 - 04:00 hrs
Press briefing: 06:30 - 8:00 hrs,
Public telephone server for press briefing: +49 - 69 - 27 11 32 32(listen only)
Contact point: Jocelyne Landeau-Constantin
Tel:+49 6151 90 2696/2459
Fax: +49 6151 90 2961
Info line: +49 - 6151 - 90 26 09
( ) The Netherlands
Location : Space Expo for ESA/ESTEC
Address: Keplerlaan 3, Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Opening hours: 23.00 - 04.00 hrs
Contact point: Heidi Graf
Tel:+31 71 565 3006 during office hours
Tel: +31 71 36 46 446 during launch night (Space Expo)
Fax: +31 71 565 5728
Info line: +33. 71 565 8016
( ) Italy
Address: Via G. Galilei, Frascati (Rome), Italy
Opening hours: 23:00 - 03:00 hrs
Contact point: Franca Morgia
( ) Spain
Location: ESA/VILSPA Satellite Station
Address Villafranca del Castillo, Madrid
Opening hours: 23:30 - 03:00 hrs
Contact point: Valeriano Claros
Tel:+34. 91. 813.1111
( ) France
Address: Boulevard de l'Europe, 91006 Evry
Opening hours : 01:00 - 04:00 hrs
Contact point : Odile Laborie
Please complete the form and fax it to the site of your choice.