Welcome again!

After the MSG-3 launch from Kourou on the 5th of July 2012, let's introduce again our new fellow, the MSG-4 spacecraft, from the place we left it, if you remember well, at the end of the MSG-3 Launch Campaign blog:

 MSG-4 view through the SEVIRI opening in  the Solat Array

… a naked MSG-4 quietly waiting in Thales Cannes (TAS-F) clean room for its turn to be groomed and eventually launched.
Today, we have reached this point where the spacecraft is about to leave Thales Cannes and to hopefully take up duty in orbit in few weeks time. The purpose of this private blog is to report on this launch campaign and to share this adventure with colleagues and families not present in French Guyana.

For those interested to get a flavour of what happened to MSG-4 since 2012 in Thales Cannes, few pictures have been gathered below to show the (re)-integration of the SEVIRI instrument and the system (re)-test till the spacecraft was eventually declared "ready" to be sent to the Kourou Space Center in French Guyana...

• In October 2012, MSG-4, the last spacecraft of the Meteosat Second Generation series, has been subject to heavy surgery. It was actually dismounted  in order to remove the SEVIRI instrument that needed to be repaired in Astrium (now called Airbus Defense and Space) in Friedrichshafen and in Toulouse.

 Removal of the instrument from the Spacecraft platform.

• In February 2014, after a successful repair, the SEVIRI instrument was reintegrated into the MSG-4 Spacecraft at Thales Cannes. Due to this repair, the spacecraft had to follow a new sequence of tests to prove quality of the repair and the performance of the SEVIRI instrument (see bullets below).

 Reintegrated MSG-4; Credits: François

• In May 2014, MSG-4 was dressed to kill, not for the Cannes film festival :-) but for an Acoustic Test in a configuration close the flight one. The spacecraft was put in an acoustic chamber which simulated the "noise" generated by the Ariane V launcher during take-off. The purpose of  this test was mainly to check the workmanship of the repair. The Solar Arrays can be seen with their protective blankets which gives this silver appearance. The missing thermal window right to the SEVIRI baffle can be noticed as well.

 MSG-4 in the acoustic chamber in Thales Cannes after acoustic test in May 2014

• In July 2014, MSG-4 was placed in a vacuum chamber (T=95K, P=7,5 10-7mbar) at Thales Cannes in order to test the performance of the SEVIRI detectors (Visible, VNIR, Visible & Near Infra Red, and IR) in conditions close to those seen by the Spacecraft in orbit.

 MSG-4 entering the vacuum chamber in Thales Cannes just before Optical Vacuum Test in July 2014
 (Credits: Thales)

• In November 2014, MSG-4 was weighed and the the Center of Gravity (CoG) and Moment of Inertia were determined. One can note in the picture below that the configuration of the spacecraft at that stage (with the Solar arrays, the thermal windows all antennas)  is close the flight configuration.

MSG-4 on the MCI device in November 2014.
(Credits: Thales)

• Immediately after these mechanical measurements, MSG-4 which is a spinning satellite was balanced. This test is similar to the  balancing of a car wheel after a tire replacement. The addition of small masses at different places supports a smooth rotation of the spacecraft (i.e.100 rounds per minute in orbit). The short movie below was shot for MSG-3 but the test carried on MSG-4 in December 2014 was identical. The speed in the run below was an intermediate speed (i.e<100rpm).

 

 MSG Balancing at TAS-F in December 2014

•  In April 2015, after a series of reviews, The Consent to Ship MSG-4 to Kourou, French Guyana, was granted! and on 16 April, MSG-4 Spacecraft was put into its Transport Container in Thales Cannes.

• 17 April 2015, Finally last MSG-4 picture before Transport container close out!

Blog to be continued in Kourou!