Thales, ESA and EUMETSAT teams arrived safely in Kourou on 22/04.
We left a blooming spring in Europe to reach a completely overcast and wet French Guiana after a 10hours+ bumpy flight (strong front winds).
No surprise: this period from March to June corresponds to the rainy season in French Guiana. This is linked to the cyclic moves over the equator of the ZIC (Zone Inter tropical de Connection) where the atmospheres of the North and South hemispheres get in contact with each other causing large amount of precipitations. At this moment of the year, the ZIC is roughly just above where we are (ca 5 deg. Latitude).
Poster at the weather forecast station located in CSG
Just a quick look through the A340 window today confirms that it is not the best moment nor place to make pictures :-)
So be patient. We'll come with more attractive pictures in the coming days.
Let's hope that these weather conditions will not delay further the VA222 launch planned now on Friday 24/04.
Teams will start activities as from 23/04 @ 09:00 am local time (5 hours difference with Continental Western Europe) with our colleagues from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) to set offices and accept the facilities where activities on the MSG-4 Spacecraft will take place shortly.
KB
PS: A good tip for those still to come in this period: don't forget to take your umbrella or your light rain coat :-)
