An update on today’s successful manoeuvre from the Integral Dedicated Control Room at ESOC. Details provided by Spacecraft Operations Manager Richard Southworth.

  • The commands to start the burn were transmitted at 17:17 CET
  • The 4X thrusters switched on and operated as expected and within normal parameters for temperature
  • Initial assessment of telemetry shows fuel usage was as expected
  • The burn ended at 17:48, running 31 mins – well within expectations

As for the total change in velocity – ‘delta-v’ – only a very preliminary and unconfirmed number is now known, based on telemetry data from the spacecraft: Initial indications are that the burn delivered about 14 m/s, which is very close to expectations.

The final confirmed delta-v won’t be known until Monday when the flight dynamics team at ESOC perform a full orbit determination, i.e. they determine where the spacecraft is and then use this to work backwards and calculate the magnitude of the burn that got us there.

“Thanks to the excellent ground segment all operations could be executed as planned with no deviations from the timeline. As ever the satellite performed flawlessly,” says Richard.

“Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this important activity, giving up a chunk of their weekend.”

The next burn is planned for 4 February.

Thruster temperatures seen rising via telemetry sent from Integral during a 31-min thruster burn on 24 January 2015. Credit: ESA

Thruster temperatures seen rising via telemetry sent from Integral during a 31-min thruster burn on 24 January 2015. Credit: ESA