Following all of the work to ensure that EarthCARE is spotless, and the team at the Vandenberg Space Force Base and the team at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre in Germany simulating the launch and early orbit phase, the satellite has now been fuelled.
Getting ready to fuel EarthCARE. (ESA)
Before the propulsion team could carry out the task of fuelling EarthCARE, they had to set up various pieces of equipment and test the thrusters. Since the hydrazine fuel is hazardous, only the propulsion team is allowed to be in the cleanroom for this part of the launch campaign.
SCAPE training. (ESA)
Two of the fuelling crew, Charlotte and Amy, underwent Self Contained Atmospheric Protective Ensemble, SCAPE, training in preparation for the fuelling activities, which involves putting on special suits and practicing the steps needed to fuel the satellite.
Suited up and ready to roll. (ESA)
Weighing the hydrazine tanks. (ESA)
Once all the dry runs had been completed, it was time for the team to weigh the hydrazine takes so that the amount of fuel loaded could be measured accurately, and also connect the first tank to the satellite.
Fuelling took a full day, but by the end of Friday 10 May, EarthCARE was fully loaded.
They then locked the fuelling ports and packed up the equipment.
While all of this was going on in the cleanroom, other members of the team monitored the fuelling process very carefully from the control room.
Monitoring fuelling. (ESA)
In parallel, the rest of the launch campaign team took this opportunity to plan the next steps, which involve integrating the satellite on the Falcon 9 rocket – referred to as ‘combined operations’.
And as if all of this wasn’t exciting enough, a different food truck was outside with new offerings for lunch!
New food truck. (ESA)
Read more about EarthCARE.
Discussion: no comments