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 in order to assess that everything will operate nominally on its journey to, and once in, orbit. Test deployments of Envisat's antenna and solar panels are an essential part in the preparation of Envisat before launch.
These rushes filmed in the cleanroom of Hydra at ESA's ESTEC site on 20 July 2000, show the test deployment of the DRS (Data Relay System) antenna on the Polar Platform of Envisat. This antenna will play an important part in the relay of data from the Envisat satellite to ESA's telecommunications satellite Artemis, which in turn will relay it

01:01:08 PAN up Envisat satellite in Hydra cleanroom prior to test
01:01:24 Engineers in cleanroom overalls waiting for test to begin
01:02:11 CUs Envisat insturments
01:03:11 DRS antenna prior to deployment
01:08:42 DRS antenna deployment
01:09:36 CUs area Envisats polar platform where DRS antenna is held
01:27:50 END