This time-lapse video shows engineers at IABG in Germany testing the deployment of Sentinel-2A's solar wing. This is one of the last tests before the satellite is packed up and shipped to Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana for launch, planned for June 2015.

Offering ‘colour vision’ for Europe’s environmental monitoring Copernicus programme, the Sentinel-2 mission combines high-resolution and novel multispectral capabilities – a first for ESA. With a 290 km-wide coverage path and frequent revisits, Sentinel-2 will deliver views of Earth’s changing lands in unprecedented detail and accuracy. Information from this latest mission will help to improve agricultural practices, monitor the world’s forest, detect pollution in lakes and coastal waters, contribute to disaster mapping and much more.