POC stands for Plan d'Operation Combiné and starts twelve days before the Launch. This corresponds to the final phase of the campaign where operations are "combined" between the two spacecrafts and the launcher. Once both spacecrafts in upper and lower positions are mated on the rocket and encapsulated under the fairing, the rocket is rolled out from the BAF (Batiment d'Assemblage Final) to the ELA-3 (Ensemble de Lancement #3) for the the launch.
The POC is mostly under Arianespace responsibility. For evident safety reasons, limited personnel only can attend these operations and of course industrial process are kept confidential, therefore not much can be disclosed in this phase...
Etienne Maurice Falconet (1716-1791)
Seated Cupid (detail), 1757, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Though the POC has started on the 23/06 (L-12), MSG-4 still stands in the S5B fueling facility and needs to be transferred to the BAF. MSG-4 has formally entered the POC today 25/06 (L-10) with the clamping of the spacecraft on its flight adaptor. The loading on CCU-2 (Payload Container) is foreseen on 26/06 and the transport by road to the BAF on Saturday 27/06... still a long week to go.
Despite all the restrictions mentioned above, we are confident to release news from the spacecraft soon.
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