The Venezuelan government has moved forward three days launching of Simón Bolívar satellite, which was schedule for November 1. In this way, today, between 11:30 AM and 12:00 PM the satellite will be launched from Xichang (China). An executive from Cantv, company that will manage the satellite, said to Convergencialatina that the change of date is simply explained by the weather conditions since the forecast tells that today's weather will be better than Saturday's. Moreover, he said to this means that Venesat 1 will begin operations in March, after a three-month testing period.

The president Hugo Chávez will follow the launching from Luepe, control base located in the state of Bolívar. Moreover, the Minister of Science and Technology, Nuris Orihuela and the Minister of Education, Héctor Navarro, travelled to China to attend the event. Orihuela explained that, if the weather conditions hinder today's launching, they have time until November 2 to do so.

The satellite cost US4 406 million, partially finances by China, as part of the cooperation and technological transfer agreements signed between both countries. The launcher rocket that will place the Venesat 1 tin to 78° West orbit will be Changzheng-3B; Long Way-3B in English.

The Government has mentioned that satellite, that will operate in C, Ku and Ka bands, will be used as technological platform to take telecommunication services to populations traditionally excluded from Venezuela as well as from other Latin American countries. They will be mainly focused on tele-medicine and remote learning.