After the satellite container was opened, our PA and cleanliness team made a thorough inspection.

The satellite configuration was then prepared for the first power ON.

By the way… did you recognize our 2 Canopée adventurers? Bahar and Sebastian, on the zoom below, are safe and sound, and very happy of their experience!

During that time, the validation of the Electrical Ground Support Equipment, harnesses and check-out was continuing and the flight battery was charged.

During that time, the team was growing…

… the safety trainings multiplied and a kind of tradition developed.

During that time, the operational network links were delivered and verified in the different locations of the launch base that we will occupy, including the launch pad.

All conditions were met this Friday to execute the first switch ON of the satellite and verify the good connection and calibration of all interfaces with the Ground Support Equipment.

As you can guess from the happy faces of Alex and Stan in the LBC, all went smoothly so far! We are ready to start on Saturday, according to plan, the functional tests of the satellite after transport. Early morning, just after enjoying a beautiful sunrise or a nice team run.

It was some time that we did not see our sleeping beauty, stored in the transport container since February, so the emotion was there.

It has been another very busy day here, well managed by the whole team. The activities will continue until the end of the week focusing on the preparation of the satellite configuration and the validation of harnesses and Electrical Ground Support Equipment, flight battery charge, to be ready for the first switch ON on Friday.

Today, the acceptance of the Payload Preparation Facility (S1A) was successfully concluded. It was a prerequisite to proceed tomorrow with the opening of the satellite transport container in the clean room. With this first important milestone, the launch campaign has officially started!

We are now 16 on site, ESA and ADS, and the number will go up to 33 by the end of the week.

A lot of unpacking, transfer, cleaning, set-up was done today with all the ground support equipment, electrical and mechanical. ADS check-out in the LBC and all the offices are already operational.

The link with Esoc via the NDIU routers has been successfully established at the end of a very long day. This will allow to sent the satellite real time telemetry to the operations control center during the final countdown.

The set-up of the Nitrogen purge for our laser terminal has also been prepared, ready to be connected to the satellite once out of the container.

Now, a little quiz…

1. Watch and tell what this is

A. The activities in the S1A today.

B. A colony of ants met on the Monkey Mountain during our Sunday trek.

2. Now listen carefully, sure you did not do it the first time…

What bird is singing?

3. WHO AM I?

ANSWERS

1. B, but A is also considered a correct answer.
2. Listen and compare Yes, it’s incredible “sentinelle de la forêt Guyanaise” (sentinel of French Guiana’s forest). Thanks to Bahar and Thomas for finding out!!
3. A. Markus /B. Patricia /C. Reinhold /D. Sebastian /E. Claudia /F. Constantin /G. Imen

Because images (and videos on the side) speak often better than words…

All started at 6:30 in the Pariacabo harbor in Kourou, under Kevin’s watch .

By 9:30, everybody had made Constantin happy with the very smooth and timely execution of the logistic operations, well done!

While the launch campaign early team, counting now 15 people from ESA and ADS, was very busy all day with many meetings – daily, weekly planning, transportation, security , quality process – with training sessions for safety and facility means operation, with installation of cleanliness equipment and inspection of the facilities, with the finalization of legal and operational documentation with the base and launcher authority, with the set-up of ADS data center and network infrastructure… the Canopée was smoothly finishing its trip. Some of us could see it passing by from the beach at Les Roches, before entering the Kourou river.

In the middle of the afternoon, it was docked in the Pariacabo harbor in Kourou. Klaus and Thomas from ADS team were granted access to the harbor to greet their 2 colleagues on board, and perform some checks and preparations on the satellite container. Then the access to the harbor got restricted for the unloading of launcher elements, as some dangerous goods were handled. The unloading activities are constrained by the tide, so they need to be carefully planned and timed. Tomorrow morning between 6:30 and 10:30 is our slot, we will proceed with the unloading of Sentinel-2C!

At the end of the day at CSG, we got the bomb squad inspection. After all areas were cleared, we put in place seals and activated the video sensors to ensure the S1A facilities will remain safe until the satellite arrival.

Tuesday 16 July, the first daily meeting of the Sentinel-2C launch campaign took place in CSG. The meeting was held in the Payload Preparation Facility S1A and gathered the ESA launch campaign early team (3 of us) and 17 participants from Arianespace and CNES to give us a warm welcome! Once the dry-run of the daily meeting was completed, the urgent topics were discussed and the plan for the upcoming days reviewed and agreed. Our IT team started right away unpacking and setting up their equipment. First thing first, the coffee machine was unanimously given the highest priority!

Shaf, Patricia and Ricardo, like the 3 musketeers, enjoying their first cup of coffee of the launch campaign… and certainly not the last!

By the end of the day, the wifi was operational.

Tomorrow, we expect Airbus early team to join the daily meeting and more of our colleagues from ESA and industry in the next days. We will continue together the set-up our new working environment and run the facility acceptance checks to make sure that all our needs are fulfilled before the arrival of the satellite.

Safety training.

While Sentinel-2C is on its way to Kourou, this week the engineering teams from ESA and Airbus also started their trips…

… to ESOC, our satellite control centre in Darmstadt.

On 8th July, the Operations Validation Campaign has started. The first day was dedicated to the project support team training, to bring our engineers up to speed on the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) activities that they will be supporting on site. Among the topics addressed : the LEOP objectives and timeline, the procedures, the roles and responsibilities of the different team members, their locations, the control system and tools available to visualize and process satellite data, and the famous communication protocol via the voice loops. Everybody is now familiar with the NATO phonetic alphabet (to learn by heart!!) and will call our satellite Sentinel-2 Charlie 🤓.

After the training, the teams were exposed to their first real life simulation in the 2 days that followed.

The start of the satellite life is critical. Acquiring the satellite telemetry and taking control as soon as possible after its release in orbit is essential. For that reason a 24/7 organization is put in place for the early operations, based on the rotation of 2 teams A&B in 12-hour shifts. The satellite is not continuously reachable, only when it gets in visibility of our ground stations. As a result, the team has roughly 10 minutes communication slot that alternate with 90 minutes blackout – which requires rigorous preparation and coordination. While most mode transitions are autonomously managed on board, some key steps require ground verification and commanding to bring the satellite to a stable nominal mode, and get it ready to perform collision avoidance maneuvers if necessary. This should be achieved at the end of LEOP within 3 days after launch.

The simulation campaign will continue from now until a few days before launch. 16 cases will be run, representative of real LEOP shifts. A and B teams will get many opportunities to train on nominal and contingency scenarios, and practice their shift handovers. The simulation officers are usually very creative with the injection of failures, which promises some head scratching to our engineers, certainly some fun, and will for sure get our teams ready to face anything by the time of the launch!

This week on 2nd July Sentinel-2C satellite left its home town Friedrichshafen by road, together with all the required GSE to support the launch campaign. Late that day, the convoy reached Bremen harbour where the Canopée was waiting to onboard this precious cargo (read more via the 3/7 Airbus press release link). Some lucky members of the ESA project team joined the Airbus team in Bremen on 3rd July to witness the loading activities.

A few dates and figures: the Canopée will leave Bremen on 4th July and aim to St Nazaire-Montoir where it will pick-up our Vega launcher 4th stage (AVUM-A) before heading to Kourou. The trip takes around 15 days, with an average speed of 17~18 knots, corresponding to a default gas-oil consumption of around 20 tons per day, that thanks to the very innovative sail system (wind power assistance) will be reduced by 20 to 30%.

The 2 videos on the right side bar will give you an impression of the Canopée bridge and show you the check of the lifeboat release system. The adjustment (obviously) needed was successfully completed within the following hour.

Until its arrival in Kourou Pariacabo harbour around 19th July, you can track the Canopée location through the link provided top left of the page.