An interesting turn of the phrase...
Jul. 31st, 2008 08:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpI was called downstairs to Hall 101 to take care of a detail that was not related to the suite of electrical tests that were going on for much of the day, to make sure that the "stack" consisting of the satellite, the adapter system, and the Russian-built upper stage are ready for tomorrow's "encapsulation" operation. It was a pretty impressive sight.
The satellite had been stripped of the protective panels that covered the folded solar arrays, so it gleamed in the glare of the hall's sodium lights. Technicians were carefully removing hoisting hardware from the top of the satellite while a group of specialists ran through the electrical checklist.
Tomorrow morning, the stack will be tilted into the horizontal position, the bottom half of the payload fairing will be moved under it, and then the upper half will be hoisted in the air and carefully lowered onto the bottom half. The result, after a bunch of closeout work, will be a satellite that is "encapsulated" inside the fairing, which will protect the satellite from the atmosphere for the rest of its time on the planet, both at the processing facility, during the rollout to the pad, at the pad, and during the all-important ascent phase of flight).
The start of my assigned work coincides with the start of the tipping operation. I might go in early.
Cheers...
The satellite had been stripped of the protective panels that covered the folded solar arrays, so it gleamed in the glare of the hall's sodium lights. Technicians were carefully removing hoisting hardware from the top of the satellite while a group of specialists ran through the electrical checklist.
Tomorrow morning, the stack will be tilted into the horizontal position, the bottom half of the payload fairing will be moved under it, and then the upper half will be hoisted in the air and carefully lowered onto the bottom half. The result, after a bunch of closeout work, will be a satellite that is "encapsulated" inside the fairing, which will protect the satellite from the atmosphere for the rest of its time on the planet, both at the processing facility, during the rollout to the pad, at the pad, and during the all-important ascent phase of flight).
The start of my assigned work coincides with the start of the tipping operation. I might go in early.
Cheers...
