Family pictures - 2

On 23/05/2012 there was a second opportunity to gather around the spacecraft to welcome the new colleagues just arrived at CSG. As it can be seen on the pictures below, the spacecraft is getting closer and closer to its final flight configuration.
At this stage of the campaign, this is the right moment to give a big applause to the Thales team which has been performing with talent, a lot of competence and always on a in a very friendly and professional way.

Thales Team

Then comes our dear Customer: EUMETSAT (from left to right): Georges, Sergio, Gianfranco, Margareth, Christian, Jean-Claude and Antonio

The ESA team (from left to right): Francois, Cyril,..and a  special welcome to Stéfane, Rolf and Ferran who just arrived

All together:  the MSG dream team

TAS, EUMTSAT, ESA and our CSG colleagues.

Note: the long "grey snake" on the floor and facing the spacecraft is a ventilation pipe which is used to cool down the battery during the charging cycle

...and now ready for the fuelling?

At the Kaw Swamp

Since 1998, Kaw swamp (reserve naturelle des Marais de Kaw) is a natural park. This place is quiet impressive by its size (94700ha) and the number of (protected) species that can be found, in particular the avifauna.
Located roughly 60kms southwest from Cayenne, the Kaw swamp is a in fact a flooded savanna. During the rainy season (April to June), most of the places, village and farms can only be reached by pirogues. Local tour operators propose various options to visit this outstanding place. An exciting one is to spend a day on a floating Carbet (Lodge Caïman). Wandering on the Kaw river with a pirogue, gives a unique opportunity to observe many rare species as they live here since milenaries. At night, in quasi open air accommodation one can ear the superb concert given by the night "players" of this complex and rich ecosystem...

Successfull VA206 launch

On 15/05/2011 at 19:13 sharp, Ariane 5 successfully lifted off the 2 Asian spacecrafts Vinasat-2 (Vietnam) and JCSAT-13 (Japan). Those two telecommunication satellites were manufactured by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space System.
This is obviously an important date as far as this success clears up the way for the next Ariane 5 launch: VA207 for Ecchostar-17 and... MSG-3.

MSG teams followed live the VA206 launch from various sites: the beach near by Hotel des Roches or Jupiter, Agami and Toucan which are three controlled CSG observation sites.
This was really an impressive launch.
Here after are displayed few pictures shot from the Toucan observation point of view...

Family picture(s) - 1

On 15/5/2012 few family pictures have been made in the clean room as our "baby" is getting more and more elegant. These few pictures also reflect the presence of the various MSG-3 teams at the CSG for the moment. There will be other family picutres in the future as it is impossible to have all the team members available on the spot at the same time...
This was a also a special moment to celebrate the good team spirit since the MSG-3 campaign started and also the good work accomplished so far.

ESA team(from left to right): Stefano, Francois, Louise and Cyril

 Credits: Jean-Claude P.

ESA and EUMETSAT teams (from left to right): Jean-Claude, Stefano, Francois, Gianfranco, Margareth,Louise, Antonio and Cyril

 Credits: Jean-Claude P.

Congratulations to the Thales team: This date is really an achievement for all of them!

 Credits: Jean-Claude P.

All together: Thales, ESA, EUMETSAT, and CSG teams!

ESA Party

On Sunday May 6th, ESA invited all launch campaign teams and families of the CSG colleagues living in Guiana, for a party at the Base de loisir, ULM Equateur at Macourin (PK6 CD5 Route de Monsinéry, 97355 Macourin).

The day started with a Quad tour in the (flooded) forest, then a buffet-lunch was organised followed by a karting race. This place being an ultra light aeroclub, those who volunteered could also go for a short flight over the Monsinéry zoo and the Guyanese coast.

All participants enjoyed this very nice day extremely well organised by Francois and Elaine. We also had luck with a very sunny day!

The party was a real success for small and... tall kids :-)

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!

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!