This timelapse video shows Hispasat 36W-1 satellite, based on the SmallGEO platform, during tests at IAGB, in Germany, and from final preparations to liftoff on a Soyuz launcher, flight VS16, from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, on 28 January 2017.

SmallGEO is Europe’s response to the market demand for more flexible, modular telecommunications platforms. It marks the first time the German satellite manufacturing company OHB System AG have been the prime contractor for a telecommunications satellite mission. Its Hispasat payload marks the first ESA partnership with a Spanish operator.