Working at the EPCU

Since the start of the campaign, our working place in CSG is at the EPCU S5C (Ensemble de Préparation de la Charge Utile). The left "reddish" wing of this large building (see below) accommodates our offices. EPCU contains also airlocks and clean rooms where the MSG spacecraft is being prepared/tested (left "white tower"). MSG will be moved later on to the right "white tower" or S5B, a dedicated area for the hazardous fueling operation, before the transfer to the BAF (Batiment d'Assemblage Final) to be mated on the Ariane 5 rocket.
To be precise, S5C is divided in 2 areas, North and South, to support two launch campaigns in parallel. This proves to be very useful for dual launch as it it the case for our ArianeV207 flight (launch of MSG-3 and EchoStar spacecrafts). MSG is accommodated in the North part, while EchoStar, a US telecom satellite, will be in the South part when it will arrive by my mid May at the EPCU.

Credits Arianespace/CNES/ESA: An overall view of the CSG EPCU facilities

After having arranged all the offices (furniture, Internet connections...), and even the coffee corner, we are now fully operational. Working days start at 7:00 am for most of us and end at around 18:00.
We hold since two weeks our daily meeting at 9:00 am with all parties: EUMETSAT, ESA, Thales and our CSG colleagues. Below is a picture of our today's daily. (we could not took it earlier before the MSG-3 flag was properly installed :-)

These are in facts long days but all teams are very motivated, cooperative and working hard.
To be complete, we should not forget that there is a new comer in the team:

This is the MSG-3 mascot. A contest has been open to find him/her a nickname.
Toco, Shumi are already taken, any other ideas?

A small night butterfly may cause troubles

Last Monday, the ESA office in Guyana forwarded to the MSG-3 teams a warning notice about the risk associated to a small night butterfly: the Ashen moth (Hylesia Metabus) or papillon cendre in French, which can cause dermatosis called lepidopterism.

At dusk, these butterflies start flying and can be met close to light sources and mangroves. This flight episode lasts from 19h to 23h. While in flight, females drop microscopic stinging arrows in order to protect their eggs from predators. These tiny arrows contain poisonous substances which, once in contact with the skin or mucosa, cause pruritic rashes, local itching. Edemas can be observed in the most severe reactions.

The reproduction cycle of the butterfly lasts about 3 to 4 months. Caterpillars becomes butterflies 3 to 4 time a year.
Due to the blooming numbers of those butterflies in Cayenne last Tuesday, the local newspaper, France-Guyane, used the word "invasion" reporting  that two primary schools were obliged to close for obvious safety reasons. According to France Guyane, the "worst is to come"... Local heath authorities are taking this threat seriously and Guyane Premiere TV reported at the news this evening a status on the issue with ad-hoc prevention measures.

Here under is the cover of the small leaflet each one will get for those who will still travel in the near future to French Guyana to support the MSG campaign.

Don't  panic! you will get all the prevention details once on site, but don't forget to pack well covering clothes. Long sleeves shirts for instance and slippers to prevent walking bare foot may also prove to be useful.

By the way, they are many other butterflies in French Guyana as the Blue Morpho we saw last Sunday in the rain forest, and those  are harmless and extremely beautiful to observe!

Credits Wikipedia Morho Melenaus

Introducing LBC room

MSG-3 is getting prepared for a pressurisation tests with Nitrogen gas. It is in fact  a safety test to verify that tanks can withstand the required pressure once filled with propellant. A large shield screen has been installed for protection between the spacecraft and the Thales operators who are putting in place the set up for running the procedure.

Here under is a closer view on the propellant tanks that will be tested and a view on the LAM (Liquid Apogee Motor) that will enable MSG to get for the transfer to the geostationary orbit.

But, while the test is in preparation, there is another important room which is now almost ready: the LBC room. LBC stands in French for Local Blanc de Control, it is the Check out Equipment room from where telecommands will be sent and telemetry received. As showed below, LBC is adjacent to the clean room as the MSG-3 Antenna platform is visible trough the window.

In other words, it is from the LBC room that engineers will "talk" or keep in contact with the spacecraft from now on up to the launch, the spacecraft being located successively :

• in the EPCU S5C clean room, 
• in the BAF (Building Assemblage Final) where MSG-3 will be mated on the Ariane 5 rocket) 
• and finally at the ELA-3 launch pad (Ensemble de Lancement Ariane).

 During the count down, the RPS (Responsible Preparation Satellite) will sit behind this special desk providing the Jupiter control center with all information needed or requested. The two hanging TV screens will provide real time images of the launch pad and likely the inside of the Jupiter control room (?). One clock will provide the time and the other, the count down.

MSG-3 has been undressed

Since MSG-3 arrival last Saturday at the S5C building, activities are speeding up to prepare for connecting the Spacecraft to the EGSE (Electrical Ground Support Equipment), power it on and start testing to see if the baby is in good health for the launch.

Unpacking the 20 containers has been swiftly and quite efficiently managed by Thales.

After MSG-3 was mounted on a multipurpose Dolly Carriage (Chariot Dolly) last Saturday, it was towed  from the transit hall to the clean room as shown below.

A thorough inspection of the Spacecraft interior is now foreseen shorty. Therefore it was necessary to undress MSG-3 from its 8 solar arrays that are covering the external side of the cylinder.
Below, one can see  the "naked" spacecraft on the right hand side and the dismounted solar arrays hanging on the left hand side with their protective Plexiglas covers. Solar arrays are indeed extremely fragile items.
The two pictures below were taken from the window of the visitor room on the 1st floor of the S5C building. This location may sometimes be quite convenient to follow  activities without entering the clean room and/or disturbing on-going work. When activities are confidential, a blind can be pulled to cover the window.

On the close up picture below,  one can see MSG-3 primary structure.
In the Center of the Spacecraft, the biggest element filling this rather empty volume is the SEVIRI telescope. The SEVIRI is the payload imager that is designed to provide Earth pictures. We shall come back on that later. On the lower part of the spacecraft, one can see the propellant tanks all covered with the yellowish insulation foil called MLI (Multi Layer Insulation)...

For motivated readers willing to know a bit more on the satellite description, the following picture gives a rough idea of the MSG Spacecraft design. By comparing both pictures, few other subsystems can be recognised.

Credits EUMETSAT/ESA

For the best ones, have you noticed which visible element is obviously still missing?