14 DAY TRIAL // Officials with the European Space Agency (ESA) announced today, March 26, that the Sentinel-1A spacecraft has just been fueled with the required propellant at the Kourou Spaceport in French Guiana, South America. The satellite is scheduled to launch aboard a Russian-built Soyuz-STA rocket, inside a Fregat upper stage. Sentinel-1A is the first in a series of two identical satellites.
Over the past month or so, since the spacecraft made its way to Kourou, researchers at ESA have put the satellite through its paces, subjecting it to a wide variety of environmental and engineering tests. Sentinel-1A now appears capable of handling the harsh conditions it will encounter in orbit. The last process to be completed was the fueling and pressurization of the tanks.
Fueling was completed on Friday, March 21, but the tanks were not pressurized until Tuesday, March 25. This allowed experts ample time to conduct additional batteries of tests on the spacecraft. Due to the hazards involved with fueling a satellite, the Kourou engineers responsible for this procedure had to wear special escape suits.
ESA mission controllers also announce today that they are ready to support the mission. The Sentinel Control Center is fully up and running and ready to pick up the signal the spacecraft sends to Earth on April 3.
“The various teams have been working flat out to thoroughly test the satellite and all its components. We are very happy and relieved that we have reached this important milestone,” comments the manager of the Sentinel-1A launch campaign at ESA, Svein Lokas.