MSG Launch Diary - week 4
09 June 2002
For the lucky part of the team that didn’t have to work, a nice walk in the jungle was organised. We see a large variety of tropical trees and lots of insects. We also meet a green snake (an emerald boa), but, fortunately for us, not dangerous!!! If you want to see a picture of the snake, click here (not for the faint-hearted!)
08 June 2002
The electrical tests are being performed on the Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB), an instrument on board MSG that will allow accurate measurements of the Earth's radiation budget, the energy source for the climate system.
During the GERB battery capacity tests an anomaly is detected, and a part of the team is working hard to explain the causes, and to find a solution.
Rumour has it that this is all the fault of the ESA launch campaign manager. He should know from experience that as soon as he goes back to Europe and leaves his deputy in charge, a problem hits.
06-07 June 2002
The System Validation Test-3 (SVT-3) is successfully performed!!
The test involved the EUMETSAT Central Facility, and its main purpose was to perform regression testing of the control centre after recent upgrades, as well as validating the final spacecraft database. The SVT validates all flight control and flight dynamics systems against the Flight Model (FM) satellite in online tests.
Although ESOC (ESA's operations centre in Germany) was not formally part of the SVT-3 they nevertheless received telemetry and were very happy to see some real pressure (from the S/C sensors, of course). As the name says, it was the third (others might say fifth, because SVT-1 had three parts) of its kind and, one hopes, also the last.
03-04-05 June 2002
The health tests concerning the Mission Communication Package (MCP) start. The results are correct and in the proper range for the entire configuration.
The MCP (MSG's telecommunication system) consists of an antenna and a transponder subsystem. The antenna subsystem consists of four particular antennas responsible for a number of specific tasks. The transponder subsystem is responsible for the reception, amplification and transmission of data.
