(C39) Post Scriptum-2 from GEO orbit: MSG-4 First image

As expected, the MSG-4 first image (full disc) generated by the SEVIRI instrument was delivered by EUMETSAT on 04/08/2015 @10:00 UTC (12:00 Darmstadt time).

This is the evidence that MSG-4 (called MET-11 in its operational life) is in good health. With no big surprise one can notice that the sky over Noordwijk is covered with clouds while sun is shinning in Cannes :-). On the left side of the picture, one can also see the overcast French Guiana coast  from where the MSG-4 journey started three weeks ago...

(C38) Post Scriptum-1 from Darmstadt

As explained in the last post, just after launch, the MSG-4 teams based in French Guiana packed their stuff and flown back to Europe because their job to prepare the Spacecraft for launch and get it into orbit was completed. In the meantime, another team was getting prepared: the LEOP (Launch and Early Operation Phase) Project Support Team. This team composed of people from Thales Alenia Space, Astrium, Selex, ESA and EUMETSAT was present in ESOC (European Space Operation Center) located in Darmstadt, Germany, few days before the launch. Their role was to advice regarding spacecraft aspects the ESOC team that was in charge of the deployment of the spacecraft in its final orbit and operational configuration before the hand over to the end customer (EUMETSAT). These activities have been described step by step in a separate post:  MSG-4 milestones.

This is a view of the control room in ESOC where these operations have  taken  place from 15/07/2015 to 24/07/2015.

 

Credits: Stéfane

ESOC Control room 

The picture below is not extracted from the Muppet Show. We confirm that ESOC  use its own set of mascots to support the SOM (Spacecraft Operation Manager) in charge in the difficult decisions he has to take. We assume that the four mascots below were allocated to MSG-1, MSG-2, MSG-3 and MSG-4... Anyway they can be proud of the job they made and they get, en passant, greeted by Toco on its way back to Europe :-)

 

Credits: Stéfane

Now a picture of  the dream team who completed the work during this crucial but  successful ten days:

 

Credits: Stéfane

1st row (left to right): Stéphane, Hans-Jürgen, Bernard, Stéphane, Odile, Jacques, Maurice,

2nd row (from left to right): Stefano, Ferran, Francesca, Chiara, Donato

Even if not on the picture, Denis, Orion, Jean-Philippe, Norbert, Frank and Wolfgang participated to the LEOP and should not be forgotten! Congratulations to all for this remarkable achievement.

As a tradition, after the completion of the LEOP (and the party :-), the MSG-4 name is eventually "engraved" on the wall of the ESOC Control Room.  

 

Credits: Stéfane 

The exhaustive list of all missions supported by ESOC

Another page of the Space History has been written. Look! what an honour to stand so close to Philae, the ESA robot which landed on comet67 Churyumov-Gerasimenko!  MSG-4 can be proud: A(nother) star is born! Long life to the MSG family and good luck to our EUMETSAT colleagues for the coming weeks and years.

Time to pack

This is the end of the MSG-4 launch campaign. After about three months in French Guiana to support this fantastic adventure, it is time to pack and fly back to our respective places in Europe.

Ohne Titel/Without Titel, Anreas Slominski (1959- ), 

Museum der Bildenen Künste, Leipzig

The outstanding performance of the ThalesAlenia Space team was the key factor for the success all along this MSG saga which started more than twenty years ago and that culminated with the successful launch of MSG-4, the last spacecraft of the series on July 15th 2015. MTG (Meteosat Third Generation) will be now, as explained in the introduction, the next milestone.

This last postcard flags also the end of this blog. It has been a pleasure to share with you this campaign step by step. We hope, with this (almost) daily reporting, to have kept you informed properly and that you have also enjoyed the "side" messages which tried to enlarge the usual engineering fields. If you found some interest in reading us, it is definitely our best reward.

We wish you all the best in your new projects and enjoy now a well deserved summer break! Good bye MSG, good bye to all.

From French Guiana with love.

Kirill B.

PS:
Last news from MSG: it goes (very) well, all planned operations are running nominally (See MSG-4 milestones page).
Last but not least, the first MSG-4 image, will be published early August when it will be released by EUMETSAT.

X - Forever spinning… Maelströms

Powerful phenomena observed in the nature such as volcanos, storms, tsunamis, hurricanes… have always been an endless source of inspiration for artists...

Hokusai's Great wave is one example among hundred others. The wave has not the exact shape of a vortex but gives however a quite scary impression: its power and its height are about to "swallow" the long (fishing?) boat and the sailors onboard… Life looks very frail and not much can be done against the power of the nature. This drawing also represents Mount Fuji in the background: a stable element contrasting with the transient move of the sea.

Hokusai (1760-1849), The great wave, ca 1830/34 (from the series 36 views of Mount Fuji),

Victoria an Albert Museum, London

Maelström is a word from Scandinavian origin: could it lead us in a way to Edvard Munch? If in "The Scream", the Norwegian painter did not represent a maelström as such, the surrounding environment is definitely spinning as an echo of the high degree of panic of the screaming guy facing the public. The complementary colours (sea/sky - blue/orange) increase this effect of anxiety. In the background, the elevated water is whirling giving the impression of an upcoming disaster. Has this work something to do with the a mental perception of reality (the subject has no eye on this version)? At a certain distance on the bridge, two people seems to witness with indifference this hopeless situation...

Edvard Munch (1863-1944), The scream, 1910, Munch Museum, Oslo
Credit: Wikipedia

Another example may be picked up in Edgar Poe's tale "A descent to the Maelström" (1841) translated into French by Charles Baudelaire and grouped with other novels under the title "Histoires extraordinaires". In this short story, a man tells his friends how he survived a terrible hurricane as his ship was caught in a vortex. This novel, considered as one a first Science fiction tale, was illustrated according to Wikipedia by Harry Clarkes in 1919.

Illustration for Edgar Poe's short story "A Descent into the Maelström",

Harry Clarkes, 1919

Credit: Wikipedia

From Earth to deep space...The Whirlpool galaxy gives a perfect example of the "organized chaos" in the universe. It is not sure which kind of ship or Noah's arch would resist or survive in a such maelström… Anyway, seen from remote, one can be amazed on one hand by the prowess of the technique to capture such an event and, on the other hand, by the artistic dimension of this picture.

The Whirpool Galaxy, January 2005?

Credit: Wikipedia

Hyeronymus Bosch died in 1517, the same year Martin Luther initiated the Reform in Wittenberg. Europe at that time was strongly under Christianity influence, the only stable institution after the collapse of the Roman Empire. People's life was driven by fear of Hell and Heaven was promised to those meeting lifelong the principles prescribed by the religion. In the painting below Bosch illustrates this sequence after the death where an army of angels help the "good ones" to reach it. Funnily, Heaven is represented with a spiral shape with a bright center not so different from the whirling galaxy above. Of course, no conclusions can be drawn, but this pure fantasy representation of what is beyond our own borders may surprise by its modernity from an artist who evidently never observed the sky with the modern equipment we have today...

Hyeronymus Bosch (1450-1516),

Part of the Polyptich "Visions of the Hereafter", Ascent of the blessed, 1505/10

Palazzo Ducale, Venice, Italy

Credit: Wikipedia

Unknown artist, Fresco on the Neptune building at the CSG

VA-224 Main Flight events

For those interested by the important launcher events after the  H0, the chronology of the VA-224 mission is provided below:

• H0 Reference time
• H0+1 sec, EPC (Etage Propulsion Cryogénique/ Main Cryogenic Stage) ignition
• H0+7,05 sec, EAP1&2 (Etage d'Accéleration à poudre/Solid Booster 1 and 2) ignition
• H0+7,5 sec, Lift-off
• H0+2 min 21 sec, EAP separation
• H0+3 min 43 sec, Fairing jettison
• H0+8 min 58 sec first stage separation
• H0+ 24 min 53 sec, Injection
• H0+28 min 19 sec, StarOneC4 separation
• H0+30min, MSG acquisition by Malindi tracking station
• H0+30min 59sec, SYLDA separation
• H0+40min 22 sec, MSG-4 separation

L0 Launch attempt 15/07/2015

Follow the MSG-4 launch live on Arianespace TV, ESA, and EUMETSAT web sites.

All time of the chronology below are local/Kourou time (i.e. Universal Time -3 hours)

The launch window starts today 15/07/2015 at H0 18:42

Duration of the Launch window: 37 minutes,
Launch windows ends at 19:19.

07:10 am: Arriving at S1 B (few kilometers from the launch pad). An overview of the the weather over the place this morning: wet and cloudy, no rain and light breeze.

07:30 @ EPCU S1B LBC2. The D-Day has started. Arrival of the teams.

 View on LBC 2 (satellite control room) just before the arrival of the teams

08:39 am (H0-10h03m) ; Start of the Countdown in Jupiter

09:40 am (H0-9h02m): MSG-4 is authorised to be switched on

In the meantime we got a visitor to support us in the LBC2...perched next to Jean-Claude, the RPS (Spacecraft Preparation Manager).

 

Toco, MSG-4 mascot

10:07 am (H0-08h35m): the RPS is asked to test Spacecraft RED status (Green back 10 minutes later)...

11:27 am  (H0-07h15m): MSG-4 Status for meteo debrief: MSG status is green. S/C is ON. Temperatures are OK.

12:01  (H0-06h41m):  Meteo is GREEN (in particular high altitude wind are OK) 

12:12 (H0-06h30m ): MSG-4 RF transmitter in ON. Below, Gérard in front of the RF bays. Telemetry received by ESOC via NDIU.

13:11 (H0-05h31m): All parameters in Jupiter 2 are GREEN.

13:30 (H0-05h12): Meteo is confirmed GREEN (no requirement anymore for EOLE plan. Launch attempt targeted for H0)

13:58 (H0-04h44m): All parameters GREEN 

 in the meantime, there is evidence from the wall monitors in S1B giving live views from the launch pad, that the cryogenic fueling of the launcher has started.

15:37 (H0-03h05m): Status of the MSG-4 Spacecraft is GREEN

15:45 (H0-02h57m): View on the launcher on the ELA-3 (from wall monitor).

 

16:42 (H0-02h00m): Status of the MSG-4 Spacecraft is GREEN. All parameters in Jupiter 2 are GREEN.

17:17 (H0-01h25m):  Status of the MSG-4 Spacecraft is GREEN.

17:42 (H0-01h00m):  Status of the MSG-4 Spacecraft is GREEN. Meteo is confirmed GREEN. Below a quick look on the LBC-2 clocks: the first line UT and second line count down.Still one hour to go!, We get closer.

 

LBC-2 clocks 

18:10 (H0-32m00s):  Status of the MSG-4 Spacecraft is GREEN.

18:20 (H0-22m00s): MSG can go on internal power.

18:31 (H0-11m00s) MSG on internal Power and Status of the MSG-4 Spacecraft is GREEN. Meteo is GREEN. 

18:35 (H0-07m00s): Start of the synchronized sequence.

18:42 (H0) and lift-off. 

19:22 (H0+40m22s): MSG-4 Separation. Mission is declared successful! 

 

Separation from the launcher...Bye Bye MSG-4!

Credits: Arianespace

It is time now to celebrate in LBC-2.

And now the LEOP team in ESOC (Darmstadt) will take over... All the best from Kourou!

L-1 Bis Launcher on ELA-3

The Ariane 5 Launcher for the VA-224 mission spent its first night on the ELA-3 Launch pad.

 

Credits: CNES/AE

Due to the French national day on 14th of July, there were not enough resources at work in French Guyana required for a Launch. This means that the Ariane 5 launcher had to stay during this Bastille day on the ELA-3 launch pad. During these additional 24 hours, ThalesAleniaSpace performed few routine activities on MSG-4 (e.g. battery charging…). On the launcher side, the ventilation under the fairing will be continued in order to keep the critical items (tanks and batteries) under their required limits. This is necessary as the temperature under the sun during the day can be close to 40 deg. C. So far all monitoring measurements are well within the specifications required for the launch. It is noteworthy to mention that the weather this morning in Kourou was overcasted and rainy. The picture below gives a nice day view of the launcher on its launch pad.

Credits: CNES/AE

From the S1B, the wall monitors give now live views of the launcher on its pad and also close up on  the Vulcain engine.

 

Vulcain Enine of the Ariane 5 Launcher

If everything goes well, tomorrow (15/07), 10 seconds before 18:42 (Kourou time, i.e 23:42 Western Europe time), Damien should pronounce from Jupiter 2 these well known and formal words:

-A tous de DDO,  Attention pour le décompte final, 10, ...

Follow with us the final chronology, tomorrow 15/07 starting from 07:30 am (Kourou time).

L-1 Launcher Roll Out

Today (13/07), the Ariane 5 Launcher to be used for the VA-224 mission (MSG-4/StarOneC4) has been transferred, as it was planned, from BAF (Batiment d'Assemblage Final/Final Assembly Building) to the Launch pad (ELA-3).

The pictures below give an impression of the Roll Out of the launcher taken from the Galilée building (excepted picture#1).

 

1-Openining of  the BAF main door

 

2-First hundred meters of the roll out. View of the BIL and BAF buildings (respectively on the foreground on the right hand-side).

3 - The Ariane 5 carriage close to the water tower

4- Last glance at the palm trees before the big journey.

5-Ariane 5 launcher approaching the ELA-3 launch pad... for new adventures. 

IX - Forever spinning… Hands on pottery

Potter/Potter's wheel at work

Credit: Tina Tari

The potter's wheel has been spinning for donkeys ears and will still spin for long… As shown on the pictures above, the position of the hands shows the technic and the precision of the potter to give in fine the shape to the pottery. In life, hands are an important element of the in body language. It is the same in painting where hands play a major role in the overall expression of a composition; this is why they are often subject to dedicated studies preluding more achieved works...

1-For instance, Holbein made few sketches of hands before portraying Desiderius Erasmus at his writing table...

Left: Hans Holbein the Younger's Hand studies, Museum Boymans van Beuningen

Right: Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/98-1543), Erasmus writing (detail), 1523, Le Louvre

2-The Nicolas de Largilliere's Hand study/Etude de main, ca 1715 that is exhibited in Le Louvre shows  that hand sketches may even become a fully accomplished painting.

Nicolas de Largillière (1656-1746), Etude de main, Le Louvre

3-Jean Antoine Watteau invented at the turn of the XVIIIth century the genre of the fêtes galantes. In the detail of "Le faux pas", 1716/1718, shown below, a young girl is repelling the lover with her hand on his chest while he tries to embrace her. The expression in this scene results less from the face or the sight of the subjects than from the position of the bodies and the play with their hands: repelling or attraction?
For those familiar with the German silent Movie Menschen am Sonntag, mentioned in a previous post, this detail of Watteau' work may show a striking similarity with a crucial scene of the film... 

Jean Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), Le faux pas, 1716/17, Le Louvre

4-In Manet's In the Conservatory/Dans la serre, the hands of the two subjects are curiously placed right in the center of the painting. There is in this case no physical contact. The visible wedding rings on their hands shows a couple. They are in fact Mr and Mrs Guillemet visiting the winter garden of Count Otto Rosen in the VIIIth arrondissement of Paris. The two subjects are placed on each side of a bank backrest which creates de facto a separation in the various composition planes. In absence of eye contact between them (or with the observer), this couple looks rater distant, not to say feelingless rendering the overall atmosphere even heavy. Two elements come to balance this impression: the elegance of Mrs Guillemet in the foreground (ornamented hat, glove, tied ribbon, wristband, umbrella), and the decor of the winter garden in flower in the background. Is Manet just picturing a conventional bourgeois couple of the "glossy" Paris in 1879? 

 

Edouard Manet (1832-1883), In the Conservatory, 1879  Old National Gallery, Berlin

Would the close up on the hands study below help to read this master piece in a conservative or provocative way?

...

(C37) L-3 succesful RAL

Today (10/07), an important milestone was achieved: A review called RAL (Revue Aptitude Lanceur/Launch Readiness Review) was successfully completed. An exhaustive status of the launcher, the two payloads and the launch base was presented to the Ariane technical committee and management which gave the formal authorisation to proceed with the launch campaign. The outcome of the RAL allows the following events to take place in the coming days:

• Monday 13/07 (L-1), Roll out of the launcher (VA-224) from BAF to the the launch pad (ELA-3)
• Tuesday 14/07 (L-1 bis), France National Day, Bank holiday for the launcher as well  :-)
• Wednesday 15/07 (L0), Launch day. The launch window will start from 18:42 up to 19:19 Local Time (i.e. 23:42-00:19 Western Europe time).

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Shiny Cowbird/Vacher Luisant, females, (Molothrus Bonariensis), Parking of the S1 building, CSG, Kourou. 09/07/2015 @ 07:15 am local time

Family picture (4)

A family picture with all parties involved in the POC was shot this morning (09/07) in front of the CDL-3 (Centre de Lancement).

This family picture regroups some of the people representing the following organisations and project teams:

• CNES, 
• Arianespace and their industrial contractors (Astrium Defense and Space, RUAG...),
• For MSG-4 : EUMETSAT, ESA, Thales Alenia Space,
• For StarOne C4: Embratel, Loral...

All efforts of this large family are converging for a VA-224 launch hopefully on 15/07/2015!

VIII - Forever spinning… in E.L. Kirchner's Paintings

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880 - 1938) founded with few other young artists of his generation the group called "Die Brücke" which is usually considered as the basis of the German expressionism. Subjects and objects are represented not according to the reality but for the potential expression and distortion  they may produced on our senses. If examples of expressionism may be found far before the turn of the XXth century, the German expressionists (Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter) have been major contributors to this genre. Their simplified drawing lines to mold the shapes opened new roads (e.g. cubism). Their strong and vivid colors were deliberately used to amplify our sense of perception. Finally their caricature-like drawings were particularly appropriate to underline postures and movements. 

The very short selection of works below that are extracted from dance and circus themes reflects well how rotation may be rendered in E. L. Kirchner's paintings. A move that is sometime not far from spinning...

Two dancing girls, 1910/11, Private collection

Circus, Circus Horsewoman, 1913, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich

Variété, English dancing couple, 1909/26, Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main

Dancing Nude, Gret Palucca, 1929/30, Private collection

Credit: Wikipedia

Dancing couple, 1931/32, Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main