Posted on March 31, 2014 by Honora
The Payload Data Ground Segment (PDGS) team had a pre-launch meeting at ESA’s Centre for Earth Observation (ESRIN) on 31 March, after which the complete team gathered for a photo. During the briefing, each team member confirmed...
Posted on March 26, 2014 by Honora
Marking a milestone on the road to launch, the team finished loading Sentinel-1A’s fuel last Friday and pressurised the tanks on Monday. “We are very happy and relieved that we have reached this important milestone,” said Svein...
Posted on March 26, 2014 by Honora
It has been three weeks since Sentinel-1A arrived in Kourou and the campaign to prepare this new satellite for launch on 3 April is going well and according to plan. The satellite has passed all of the...
Posted on March 14, 2014 by Honora
Earlier this week, the team continued testing Sentinel-1A’s battery, which they completed later in the afternoon. All was as it should be. On Wednesday, we focused on software – and we’ve finished uploading the software and databases...
Posted on March 14, 2014 by Daniel
A few nice photos showing the Mission Control Team at ESOC, Darmstadt, conducting intensive launch simulation training for Sentinel-1a on 13 March 2014. During the ‘sim’ session, simulation officers (working unseen in a separate control room) injected...
Posted on March 13, 2014 by Honora
This week, we’ve been busy starting Sentinel-1’s battery tests. This involves the fairly lengthy process of testing that the batteries charge properly as they would do in space from the satellite’s solar arrays and then release the...
Posted on March 10, 2014 by Honora
We’ve spent the last days dedicating our time to completing the satellite’s ‘stand-alone functional tests’, most of which are now done. This included very detailed checks to make sure the synthetic aperture radar instrument works correctly. For...
Posted on March 3, 2014 by Honora
Over the weekend, Thales Alenia Space continued busily testing the Sentinel-1A satellite to ensure that everything is working okay after its long journey to the launch site. A highlight over the weekend for the ESA team was...