A Saturday at the carbet

On Saturday 28/04/12, Thales invited the MSG-3 teams to a "Carbet" along the river Kourou.
A carbet is the traditional habitation of the Amerindians, a kind of open shelter in a relatively isolated place in the forest or along a river. The roof, in the past made from palm tree leaves, is supported by a simple wooden structure. The furniture is limited to few benches, chairs an a table. Local people usually go today to the Carbet for relaxing. The most courageous westerners enjoy overnight experiences there in a Hammock hung between two pillars for listenig the sounds of the rain forest.





Arrival the the "Carbet Freelance".

Volleyball match (...in the mud due the heavy rain). Congratulations to the players :-)

More civilised, was the bath under the rain in the Kourou river :-)

Kourou river at dusk.

 

Paella on the menu, excellent!

Carbet at night

A huge thanks to Thales, and Christine in particular for the perfect organisation, for this very nice day at the Carbet!

MICE entered the clean room

 Don't panic, we are not facing a mice (Mus Musculus, Murinae) invasion!

While payload and system tests have continued successfully this week. Another activity is in preparation for next week: flight battery de-storage and reconditioning. At the moment flight batteries are stored in a cold chamber (+2C). Batteries will be progressively brought to room temperature, unpacked in the clean room and tested. During this reconditioning phase, batteries will be charged and discharged several time. In order to maintain temperature requirements, it is necessary to cool down batteries particularly during the charging phase. The MICE (Mobile Indoor Cooling Equipment) will be used in the clean room for that purpose. The two long hoses (called Boa) which are mounted on the cooling devices will blow a permanent flow of controlled air on the batteries. (With its long antennas, MICE looks closer to cockroach than to a mouse :-)

Few CSG and Thales  technicians pulled this heavy equipment in the clean room, near to the location batteries will be tested. Note that the large door separating the transfer hall from the clean room was open for this transfer.

The purpose in the coming days will be to validated the use of this dedicated support equipment (air flow, temperature, humidity and cleanliness parameters...) in order to be sure this will work next week when the batteries will be transferred from the cold chamber to the clean room. The set up for this activity has also been arranged as it showed below: batteries will be laid on the table and cooled by air blown by the two boas...

Up to now, MICE is at work on its own. We hope anyway to enjoy the week end without being disturbed by alarms which have been set up in case monitored parameters get out of specification (oos).
...Hope you know all about MICE now and you are no longer scared by them :-)

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Arrival at CSG Space port on 26th April 2012, 6:50 am

The visitor gallery

As we already mentioned in this blog, the visitor gallery is a special place from where the activities performed on the spacecraft can be observed without entering the clean room. The gallery is accessible via a long corridor. On their way,  visitors attention will be attracted  by something very special. Walls are not decorated with mirrors, like in the Gallerie de Glaces (hall of mirrors),  but with posters of all the missions that where prepared and carried out at EPCU (Ensemble de Préparation Charge Utile)  facility.

The first poster in the raw, commemorates the ESA  ENVISAT mission launched from CSG on March 1st 2002.
When one walks slightly further, two posters remembering MSG-1 and MSG-2 launch campaigns (respectively launched on  28/08/02 and  21/12/05) can be observed:

 

Then, the entrance of the visitor gallery is on the right hand side just after the fire extinguisher.

If you have entered the visitor gallery room today, you would have seen  Jean-Claude (second from the left) giving a lecture on MSG-3 to the CSG new comers.The window enables to visualize the spacecraft and on-going activities in parallel to the explanations.

For the readers of this blog only :-), despite the red logo above, that is what the young audience could see from this window today:

... the continuation of the  Solar Array panels inspection while, in parallel, some electrical tests on the platform and on the payload were taking place.

First social event

The busy planning up to now did not allow much time for social events. The arrival of few new persons  in CSG, including, Elaine, our project secretary, triggered the first opportunity to get all together since the beginning of the launch campaign. A large office on the fisrst floor was slightly arranged to accommodate it. Elaine and Olivier nicely prepared the decor as well as few snacks and beverages. EUMETSAT and ESA flags were used temporarily as tablecloth...

This event was gathering a large part of the Thales, ESA, EUMETSAT teams. Note in the middle Olivier carrying the Planteur bowl. Of course Ti'Punch was also available as everywhere in French Guyana.

Colleague from the CSG arrived a bit later and all participants enjoyed this first welcome drink.
Let's have a toast for the good continuation of the campaign. Cheers!

Solar Arrays are being inspected

As the safety test is now completed,  Solar Arrays (SA) which have been dismounted are, as from today, being carefully inspected. There are eight SAs in total and about 1000 solar cells per panel on MSG. This means that ca 8000 solar cells have to be visually inspected one by one!
First the SA is removed from the jig (on the background) and laid on a table specially prepared for the inspection with protected blocks (blue).

Here under, the interior side of the SA can be observed with the thermal blanket (aluminium like foil) to prevent the heat radiated by the panels inside the satellite under direct effect of the sun. The full inspection of this blanket is part of this activity.

Then, each SA is flipped over the table. This is a rare opportunity to observe the SAs while they are unprotected from their usual Plexiglas covers. The rectangle in the middle is a SA cut out.  They are seven SAs of this type mounted around the MSG structure (the 8th SA accommodate in its center, the oval aperture of the SEVIRI imager). This cut out a very special area which is decoupled form the satellite internal environment. This area is covered with radiative windows behind which few electronic units or batteries are placed for evident thermal protection.

The SA  cut out edges are carefully inspected by a Thales expert. Positions to perform the activity are not always easy!

...and with the help of a appropriate light, each cell is inspected for checking contacts, integrity and cleanliness.

 Activity ends with  the careful recording of the findings for possible correction but in any case for traceability and history.

Remire-Montjoly coastal views

Weather has eventually turned to sunny :-). Some of us went to discover the beaches on the eastern side of Cayenne. They are not so numerous in French Guyana and certainly looking very different for the idyllic ones of the Antilles islands. Some pictures below will give you a flavor of the coastal landscapes we enjoyed to visit between Remire-Monjoly and the Pointe-Diamant.

Typical view of a French Guyana beach.

(If you decide to swim, be careful,  strong streams!)

Woods transported by stream and or tides from the (Mahury?) river.

Natural drawings on the sand

These "blackish" stones are frequent on the beach.

Fort Diamant, a French Navy fortification (XVIIIth century) to protect the mouth of the Mahury river. This place is being renovated.
(En passant, few articles report that this defense never prevented the Dutch Navy to pass through)

 Entrance of the Navy fortification
(looks a bit like a prison, doesn't it?)

La Belle Aémédée

Fisherman on the beach

Oasis Restaurant

Young Guyanese girls on the rocky beach