Excitement is in the air as the ESA MetOp-SG team proudly announces a major milestone —after years of meticulous development and rigorous testing, MetOp-SG A1 is officially on its way to Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana!
On the night of Wednesday 4th June, MetOp-SG A1 departed from the Airbus Test Centre in Toulouse, carefully transported by road to the port of Narbonne, where the French cargo ship Canopee awaited its arrival. This specialised vessel is designed to safely transport valuable space-bound cargo across the Atlantic.
Canopee is a specialised vessel used for transporting rocket components from Europe to the Centre Spatial Guyanais, in French Guyana. Having Canopee and MetOp-SG in town in Narbonne for the first time even made the local newspaper.
The satellite was transported by road overnight from Toulouse to Narbonne in it’s container by a specialist team.
MetOp-SG A1 will be escorted on it’s sea journey by a team from Airbus Defense & Space who will ensure that the satellite environmental conditions inside it’s transportation container are maintained during it’s Atlantic crossing. The vessel and it’s cargo left Narbonne early on Friday 6th June and will arrive in Kourou, French Guiana on Monday 16th June for the start of the MetOp-SG A1 launch campaign.
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