Tuesday, 30th of September
The first step of the journey to launch has been completed today!
After the validation and set-up of the test equipment brought to Kourou together with the spacecraft and following the authorisation given at the Test Readiness Review, the industrial team (Thales Alenia Space Italy) has been busy performing spacecraft health and functional checks. The aim of these tests is to confirm the healthy status of the spacecraft after being transported to Kourou.
Spacecraft testing after transportation
The spacecraft tests started with the pressurization and leak check. Part of the propulsion sub-system tests, the spacecraft is pressurized to MEOP (Maximum Expected Operational Pressure) with gaseous Helium and measurements are taken to identify any potential leaks, while the tank temperature is monitored. De-pressurization then followed down to storage pressure (3 bar).
Afterwards the spacecraft was powered on and several tests were performed to assess its health status and correct functionalities. All the sub-systems were checked and everything was confirmed to be in good shape!
The Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instrument team from Airbus Defence and Space Germany spent a few days with us in Kourou to support the execution of the SAR health check.
AIS Antenna integration
The Antenna assemblies part of the Automatic Identification System (AIS) instrument, which were transported to the launch site in pairs in separate containers, have also been integrated onto the spacecraft on 26th September. After that, the final connectivity test to ensure their correct electrical connection put an end to the spacecraft functional testing.
All test results were presented by the spacecraft manufacturer team at the Post-Test Review and the spacecraft was released to proceed with next steps (spacecraft finalisation before fuelling).
Sentinel-1D is ready for the next preparatory activities before fuelling…
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