N° 27–2009: Follow the launch of ESA's SMOS and Proba-2 satellites
28 October 2009
ESA's SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) and Proba-2 (PRoject for OnBoard Autonomy) satellites are scheduled for launch on Monday 2 November at 02:50 CET on a Russian Rockot launcher from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia.
SMOS, ESA's water mission, is the first satellite designed both to map sea surface salinity and monitor soil moisture on a global scale, thus contributing to better understanding of the Earth's water cycle. Proba-2 will perform in-orbit demonstration of 17 advanced satellite technologies, solar observation experiments and plasma environment studies.
The main launch event for SMOS and Proba-2 will be held at ESA’s ESRIN establishment in Frascati, Italy. ESA senior management and programme specialists will be on hand to give explanations and interviews.
Live TV transmission of the launch will provide quality pictures to broadcasters from Plesetsk and from mission control rooms at CNES/Toulouse in France and at ESA’s Redu ground station in Belgium (for further details, see http://television.esa.int).
The media (and the general public) can also follow a web-streamed video transmission at: http://www.esa.int/smos or http://www.esa.int/proba
Media representatives wishing to follow the main launch event at ESA/ESRIN or the local launch event at one of the other ESA establishments are requested to fill in the attached accreditation form and fax it back to the venue of their choice.
SMOS/Proba-2 Launch
Monday, 2 November 2009
First name: ________________________________
Surname:____________________________________
Media organisation:__________________________________
Address:_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
Tel:_________________________________________________
Fax:_________________________________________________
Mobile:_____________________________________________
Email:______________________________________________
I shall be attending the SMOS/Proba-2 event at the following venue:
Main SMOS/Proba-2 launch event
[ ] Italy
Location: ESA/ESRIN
Address: Via Galileo Galilei, Frascati, Rome, Italy
Opening hours: 00:00 to 06:30
Contact: Dieter Isakeit, Tel +39 06 94180 950, Fax +39 06 94180 952
dieter.isakeit@esa.int
Local SMOS/Proba-2 launch events
[ ] The Netherlands
Location: ESA/ESTEC
Address: Keplerlaan 3, Noordwijk
Opening hours: 02:30 to 04:30
Contact: Pal A. Hvistendhal, Tel + 31 71 565 3006, Fax + 31 71 565 5728
estecpr@esa.int
[ ] Germany
Location: ESA/ESOC
Address: Robert Bosch Strasse 5, Darmstadt, Germany
Opening hours: 07:00 to 09:30 (as a post-launch press briefing)
Contact: Jocelyne Landeau-Constantin, Tel: +49.6151.902.459, Fax: +49.6151.902.961
melanie.zander@esa.int
[ ] Spain
Location: ESA/ESAC
Address: Urbanización Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid
Opening hours: 01:30 to 04:30
Contact: Javier Ventura-Traveset, Tel + 34 91 813 13 59, Fax: + 34 91 813 12 19
For further information:
ESA - Media Relations Office
Tel: +33.(0)1.5369.7299
Fax: +33.(0)1.5369.7690