Entry 8: Proba-2 gains a solar panel
Wednesday 9th September – Today begins with one of the most delicate steps of preparing the spacecraft for launch: final mounting of
Since this activity requires extreme precision and very high concentration from the operators involved, the mechanical integration team spends the entire day in the clean room under close PA supervision and with restricted access for others. At the end of today the first deployable panel is mounted completely.
In parallel, in the EGSE room -or 'the garage' as the team call it- the test team thoroughly review all the test logs from the full functional tests of previous days. They are also continuing to perform simulations of LEOP (launch and early orbit phase) passes using the system software simulator connected to the control centre software in order to get further trained and prepared.
Due to the day's very intense integration activities, at the end of it most of the team really need some fresh air and unwind… Which means a game of ping pong in an improvised sports hall at the MIK (using one of the future offices of the SMOS team) and a game of basketball after our arrival back at the team hotel.
