Countdown to Cheops #1
19 October 2019
Hi everybody, Paxi speaking!
I arrived safely at Centre Spatial Guyanais in Kourou, also known as CSG, which is in French Guiana. I travelled here with the CHEOPS ESA team and we arrived on Monday 14th October in the afternoon. As a full CHEOPS team member, I get access to the CSG and for now we are in the S1B building. I share office #29 with Carlos and Joel, and Nicola and Jan are sharing office #28. Later I will introduce the ESA team and the CHEOPS team at large.
As you can see, I have already been given a nice and comfortable chair. The atmosphere is very serious – lots of work to be done – so for now I stop speaking, and will give you more news later.
Let me introduce you to the CHEOPS team members that are currently here for the launch campaign, i.e. the ESA ESTEC team and some members of the CHEOPS Airbus/ASE Madrid team.
From left to right, we have: Roberto Palacios, the ASE system AIT/V manager, Juan-Antonio Martin, the ASE deputy AIT/V manager, Jan Rautakoski, the ESA PA manager, Joel Asquier, the ESA platform and system AIT/V engineer, Carlos Corral Van Damme, the ESA system engineer and Nicola Rando, the ESA project manager. Later I will introduce you to other members. I can tell you that the team spirit is very warm and everybody is very focused but without stress. I was quickly adopted as the mascot ;-) by the whole team.
We are currently in the Assembly, Integration and Test control room where CHEOPS is being checked over to make sure that everything is working properly after the trip from Madrid to Kourou.
Behind the guys, you can see the CHEOPS satellite in the clean room, covered in a bag to make sure it stays super clean.
Currently, I am not allowed to enter in the clean room. Joel is working on a solution but we agreed that it was not a top priority because I can get access and follow the tests with him at all times.
Last modified 14 November 2024
