Marking a milestone on the road to launch, the team finished loading Sentinel-1A’s fuel last Friday and pressurised the tanks on Monday.
Soyuz assembly. (Arianespace)
“We are very happy and relieved that we have reached this important milestone,” said Svein Lokas, ESA’s Sentinel-1A Launch Campaign Manager.
In parallel to achieving this important milestone, all three stages of the Soyuz launcher were assembled. The launcher is currently undergoing electrical tests.
Sentinel-1A fully loaded. (ESA–B. v/d Elst)
After the successful completion of the critical fuelling and pressurisation activities, the spacecraft was switched on and inspected in the S5B high bay. For this inspection, the panels protecting the solar arrays were removed so we could get a quick look at them.
Sentinel-1A solar array (folded) revealed. (ESA–B. v/d Elst)
Last Saturday, Arianespace invited the team to watch launch of Amazonas 4A and Astra 5B. The two satellites where launched on an Ariane 5 launcher.
Ariane 5 launch. (Arianespace)
On Wednesday, Sentinel-1A will be moved to the S3B for the mating with Soyuz Fregat upper stage and final encapsulation in the fairing. A special container, called CCU3, will be used to transport the satellite safely from S5B to S3B. At the moment the CCU3 is being docked to the S5B facility.
CCU container outside the S5B building. (ESA–B. v/d Elst)
The new arrivals for this week are: Stephen Faehrmann (Airbus Defence & Space), Juergen Link (Airbus Defence & Space), Roberto Baldassarri (TAS-I), Anna Notarantonio (TAS-I) and Gregory Laduree (ESA), as well as Ramón Torres (ESA’s Sentinel-1 Project Manager) who re-joined the team.
Post from the Sentinel-1 launch campaign team in Kourou, 25 March 2014.
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