Most of the activities that we had planned for today were carried out despite the fact that we had some delays because we couldn’t use the main hall for two hours as the Russian military was busy moving a booster.
The mechanical ground support equipment (MGSE) that is needed to handle the satellite has been unpacked and installed in cleanroom 101-B along with the satellite container, which has been cleaned and dried. We are now ready for everything to be taken into the satellite integration room called 101-A.
Ground support equipment and satellite container in the cleanroom (Credits: ESA/Sentinel-3 team)
The Thales Alenia Space team have received ‘crane training’, which they needed to allow autonomous operations in the cleanroom.
At the same time, we’ve been busy opening the other various containers. The electrical ground support equipment (EGSE) has been moved to the EGSE room next to the integration room. All the office equipment has been moved to the office area and has been gradually set up – these are things like printers, displays, etc.
So things are starting to look more organised now!
As well as all this physical work, we had the usual meetings. In addition to the standard two daily meetings at 10:00 and 16:00, a review of the launch plan and of the satellite storage conditions during the Christmas holidays were discussed between all parties.
The officer in charge of the activities reported that the Military Commando in Moscow prohibited any activities during the holiday period, therefore the launch campaign should restart on 11 January.
The same officer confirmed their preference for the satellite to be stored in its container during the break, even if this may mean delaying the launch campaign by a few days.
A detailed list of storage conditions were agreed between the parties. In the coming days a revised launch campaign plan will be prepared in-line with the assumptions agreed today.
Unpacking and setting up office equipment (Credits: ESA/Sentinel-3 team)
In parallel, the military and Khrunichev will proceed to provide their inputs to their management for the formalisation of a new launch date.
Another important meeting that took place was the Breeze Pre-Shipment Review (which now should probably be called ‘Post-Shipment Review’ since it has already been shipped and is now here in the MIK close to the satellite!).
Khrunichev presented the status of qualification of the Breeze upper stage. According to them, no open work is noted and Breeze is ready to start its stand-alone activities, also planned for the coming days.
Tomorrow, the two main activities will be to remove the satellite from its container and install it on its stand in the cleanroom. In parallel, the EGSE will be integrated and prepared for the first satellite switch-on, foreseen on Saturday morning.
From the Sentinel-3 launch campaign team in Plesetsk – 3 December 2015
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