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23 SEP. 2002
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The functional tests of the satellite have now been completed and the satellite is ready for fuelling. Today, the spacecraft will be rolled into the fuelling hall, where the fuel (hydrazine) will be loaded into the spacecraft's four titanium tanks.
It will take about eight hours to load 540 kg of hydrazine needed to put the spacecraft into a safe configuration. Fuelling is planned for Saturday 21 September. In the meantime, the fuelling team is carrying out the last preparations and checks of the fuelling equipment.
SCAPE suits are used to protect the fuelling operators from the toxic effects of hydrazine. Working in these suits for long periods of time is cumbersome and a lot of preparation time is spent making sure breathing air, wireless communications and basic suit adjustment are as confortable as possible.
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Integral overview
Name: Integral (International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory)Status: Completed (launched on 17 October 2002, stopped collecting scientific data on 28 February 2025)Mission theme: Tracking violent events across the Universe
Integral science highlights
The International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (Integral) has provided unprecedented information about the Universe’s most exotic objects. It has revealed how matter behaves under extreme conditions and helped astronomers understand processes such as the formation of new chemical elements and mysterious gamma-ray bursts. These findings have been documented in an impressive, and growing, body of scientific and popular literature.
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Proton ready on the pad
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Mobile Measurement Station ready
As staff from all over the world get ready for the launch, a small team made up of Eliseo Balaguer and Energia engineers are making the final preparations for the Mobile Measurement Station (MMS) in Argentina.
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