Never let it be said that working on a launch campaign for weeks on end is boring.
Indeed, over the last few days, the team in California preparing ESA’s EarthCARE satellite for liftoff has opened the satellite’s huge cloud profiling radar reflector, been skydiving, cleaned the satellite thoroughly and been trained on using the ‘emergency life support apparatus’, which quite frankly looks like having to put a plastic bag over your head – don’t try this at home folks!
Opening and checking EarthCARE’s cloud profiling radar. (ESA)
Joking apart, all the preparations, which are meticulous and very carefully planned (I’ve seen the excel sheet!) are going really well.
Cloud profiling radar open. (ESA)
The team has opened and checked the satellite’s cloud profiling radar reflector, which looked very impressive.
In addition, they have carried out checks to ensure that when EarthCARE is fixed to the rocket they will still be able to ‘communicate’ with the satellite when it is encapsulated and on the launch pad.
The propulsion team from Stevenage in the UK arrived and started preparations for fuelling the satellite.
Emergency life support apparatus. (ESA)
They also trained with the emergency life support apparatus in case there is leak. While the photo of some of the guys wearing this equipment over their heads might suggest otherwise – they really do take safety seriously.
Getting some fresh air. (ESA)
With a bit of free time over the weekend, some of them ventured out and took the opportunity to skydive – it’s also really important to have a change of scene during these intense launch campaigns. So, from head in plastic to being in freefall high up in the sky … what a switch!
Getting on with cleaning. (ESA)
And then back to the ground to carefully clean the satellite, which is all part of getting EarthCARE ready for its big day in a few weeks.
More cleaning. (ESA)
The team will continue ticking off the ‘stand-alone’ jobs before EarthCARE is joined to its Falcon 9 rocket.
At the end of these busy days, dinners bring this hard-working team together to chat about day and have some down time.
Time together. (ESA)
Read more about EarthCARE.
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