14 DAY TRIAL // Officials with the European Space Agency (ESA) announce that they will be providing live coverage for the launch of the Swarm constellation of satellites, which is scheduled to occur tomorrow, November 22. The mission will take off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, in Russia.
The broadcast will run from 11:45 to 14:50 CET (1045 to 1350 GMT), and will be available on the ESA website. It will include feeds from the launch pad in Russia and from the European Space Operations Center (ESOC), in Darmstadt, Germany.
The Swarm constellation is made up of three satellites, all installed in a payload fairing on a Rokot delivery system. Originally, the mission was supposed to take off a couple of weeks ago, but issues with the rocket prevented the launch.
Once in orbit, the Swarm spacecraft will provide critical measurements of the Earth's magnetic field, and will help researchers better understand how solar winds influence the ionosphere, and the atmosphere in general. All three satellites will be injected into low-Earth orbits.