For the satellite in S3B, the last two days were dedicated to setting the flight configuration after fueling in view of the upcoming combined operations with the launcher. Red tag items were removed, Green tag items installed, thermal insulation finalized for all the accessible areas before the flight mating on the payload adapter, leaving the minimum number of items to be completed before encapsulation ( final closure of the fairing around the satellite). A thorough quality inspection followed, that was successfully concluded.

On the launcher side, the fueling of the 4th stage has been completed today at the launch pad. In S3B, in a separate cleanroom from the satellite, the fairing and payload adapter have been inspected for cleanliness and prepared for the activities to come.

Two major meetings took place today: the Satellite Flight Readiness Review and the BT-POC.

The first one has the objectives to judge the overall readiness of the satellite to be integrated on the launcher, to confirm that the ground segment is also ready to safely operate the satellite and to ensure that the communication links between ESOC -our satellite control center in Darmstadt- and the satellite in CSG are operational. The review was successful and authorized the satellite to enter the combined operations phase with the launcher.

This input was necessary to support the second meeting, BT-POC, which is a technical check-point between launcher and satellite authorities before the start of the combined operations : readiness was confirmed on both sides and the activities will start tomorrow early morning with the flight mating of the satellite on the payload adapter.