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Wall paintings (Margaux 07/08), Place Gaston Monnervile, Kourou, April 2012

Checking all pipes and thrusters

While the reconditioning of the two flight batteries (charging/discharging cycles) carries on and is almost completed,

... another activity is running in parallel in the clean room: the verification of all pipes and thrusters.
For a better accessibility MSG-3 spacecraft has been put in horizontal position.The picture below enables to locate the various items to be tested: one LAM (Liquid Apogee Motor) on the right of spacecraft, two +X thrusters, in red at the bottom and one + Z thruster, in red on the left side.

First, a flow test will make sure that the commands are correctly allocated to thrusters and motors. In such a case, when a specific command (A) is activated, an operator put his ear against thruster (A) and listen that the flow is well running through it.
A second test  checks that all the satellite "plumbing"is air tight.
For that purpose, the piping work is pressurised at 22 bars absolute  (MEOP Maximum Expected Operating Pressure) and an Helium sniffer probe, positioned just behind the thruster to be tested, detects any possible leak.
The picture below shows the exact set up of this second test. Note the "black elephant feet" put on the external pipes on ground to prevent any moves in case of strong pressure variation. The Pressure Test Set (PTS) device is positioned just behind the operator in the front. In the left corner, sits the Quality Control (QC) who witnesses the complete test and confirms that it has been run as planned.

While the first operator (in white) is positioning the probe on the thruster, the other one (in green) performs the reading of the test measurement.

 

A closer view on the leak-tested thruster:

Finally, the test was completed with the LAM (Liquid Apogee Motors) testing which requires, as it can be seen below, a larger test interface.

The test was running today without showing any anomalies.

Campaign status on 1/5/2012

Dear all, 
It is now about one month that the MSG teams (Thales, Eumetsat, ESA) arrived in French Guiana for the MSG-3 launch campaign. 
The last weeks were quite busy with the MSG-3 payload and system testing, but so far the campaign is running nominally.
Activities for the next weeks will be related to battery reconditioning, Unified Propulsion System and Antenna connection tests. Then, the Solar Array (re)integration, and helium tank pressurisation will end this sequence in EPCU S5C before a transfer of MSG-3 to the fuelling S5B area planned on 24/05/12 at the moment is authorised.

Before this date, Ariane flight  VA206 (JCSAT-13 and VINASAT-2), the launch, just before MSG-3 should take place on 15/05/2012. This is of course is an important date for us, as any VA206 significant delay could impact the VA207 launch planned on 19/06/2012.

Be sure, we shall report on these events in the coming weeks.

We take the opportunity of this short status message to thank the readers of this blog for their sustained interest in following our activity where ever they are: from Rio de Janeiro to Baikonur, from San Francisco to Berlin, Cork  Cannes, Liege, Paris, Marseilles, Noordwijk, Amsterdam, etc... as indicated by the record log. Their support is our best reward to continue reporting on this campaign.

Last but not least, here the morale of the teams is good and motivation is high.

A greeting from Kourou to all of  you!

Keep you posted.

 Kirill Blogovitch

PS: For those of you interested to get a flavor of French Guiana, don't forget to look at the Alamach which is updated regularly.

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 Credits: Thales colleagues/csl

Tortues luth (Dermochelys coriacea, Dermochelyidae), Leatherback sea turtles breeding, Remire beach, French Guiana, 29/04/2012

Visit of the ELS

The Soyuz launch complex called ELS (for Ensemble de Lancement Soyuz) is one of the three active commercial launch pads at CSG together with the Vega launch pad and the ELA-3 (Ensemble de Lancement Ariane #3).  ELS was visited by the MSG teams on Monday 30/04/12.
The Soyuz rocket (family) is deeply related to the early age of the Soviet space adventure which started in the sixties. This is to date the most used launch vehicle in the world. Soyuz rockets are launched from Baikonur (Kazakhstan/Russia), Plesetsk (Russia) and, since 21 October 2011, from CSG ELS in Kourou French Guiana. The payload was then a pair of Galileo satellites. The main difference with a Soyuz rocket operated in Russia is that, at the CSG ELS, the payload is integrated vertically on the rocket whilst in Russia, the rocket and payload are assembled horizontally and then erected once on the launch pad. This difference may give a chance for MSG-4 to be launched on a Soyuz rocket in 2015. On the top of that, energy wise, the CSG quasi equatorial location benefits a lot for Soyuz GEO (geostationary) launches compared to the other Russian cosmodromes.

General view on the Soyuz launch pad.

Close up view on the arms supporting the Soyuz rocket.














View from top to bottom.

Bottom up view.

View on breeching (carneau).

Visit to Vega launch pad

The Vega rocket is the smallest launcher used by Arianespace. It is jointly developed by the Italian Space Agency and ESA and used for payloads ranging from 300 up 2500 kg. The VEGA maiden qualification flight took place on 13th February 2012.
MSG teams were invited to visit the launch pad which is now in preparation for the next flight planned for 2013.

Overall view on Vega launch pad complex: Assembly building (left), water tower (middle), four lightning rods and the thin white mast to which the rocket is connected via umbilical harnesses.






A view onto the assembly building (moving forth and back). It is rolled back few hours before the launch to prevent damages.

 A view inside the assembly building.












Note that during take off, stones were ripped off the concrete structure of the launch table by the flames of the P80 engine.  Few stones were projected meters away and have damaged the front door of the assembly building. One is still there to show the strength of these projections.

 A nice view on the empty launch pad.

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Cayenne reminiscence, wall paintings, Bar des Palmistes, Place des palmistes, Cayenne.

Cacao market

From Cayenne, if you drive along the RN2 in the southern direction for roughly 60 kilometers, you will reach Cacao village. Landscapes shift from savanna after Cayenne into deep primary forest on both sides of the road. Cacao has been given in the seventies to Hmong people, an Asian community of refugees originated from Vietnam, Thailand and Laos. Since the time of their settlement in French Guiana, they did an impressive farming job to transforming the jungle into a vegetable garden or a garden of Eden. This has certainly be a hard time to get there, and the young generation is no longer willing to continue their parent's hard work. They apparently fancy urban jobs more.
Anyway, Cacao is a tiny village famous for its Sunday market, visited Sunday 29/04/12 by the MSG teams.
Here is an overall view on the market from the main village square.

 

Various types of vegetables and fruits from the Hmong production are on sale.

Exotic flowers (Bractées de Balisier) or ...

lovely embroideries, typical from the Hmong culture, are also available.

The typical Asian food is served in open air restaurants aside the market.
Here under MSG team at lunch break (from left to right: Cyril, Rolf, Stéfane, Elaine, Francois and Liliane). Don't try to get a coffee in Cacao, it is not on the menu :-)

Finally, never leave this place without a visit at the village museum "le planner bleu". The teacher of the village, a real fascinating character, will delight you with his guided tour on butterflies, spiders, snakes etc... You will really lean a lot. In a single word he will tell you:
All you ever wanted to know about French Guiana but never dare to ask.

Association le Planeur Bleu, 97352 Cacao

Tel. Fax: +33 (0) 594 27 00 34 

leplaneurbleu@wanadoo.fr