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Prop load...
Aug. 20th, 2005 12:03 pm"Attention on the net. Hazardous operations are now commencing. All non-essential personnel shall remain clear of building 92A-50 until further notice."
Today, I am among the "essential personnel." Valeri B. and I are spelling each other at approximate 2-hour intervals down in the control room, starting about 8:30 am, for what ought to be a pretty quiet time. When I left about an hour or so ago, the oxidizer flow rate stood at about 5 pounds per minute.
The whole operation will probably take nearly 11 hours, much of that time being spent to load the last 10% or so of propellant at an ever-decreasing flow rate.
There are two people inside the room with the satellite, each wearing a so-called SCAPE suit, which provides a self-contained chemicalproof environment equipped with a breathing air hose. Apparently, there is not much variety in suit sizes and the prop folks from the UK tend to be of fairly compact stature, so the view into the satellite room from the control room shows what appear to be two blue Sta-Puft marshmallow figures (wearing orange footwear) moving around inside.
I am told that the time passes so slowly during this operation - especially for the people in the SCAPE gear - that, in addition to technical communications, an official part of the chatter over the radio channel between the suits and the control room is the telling of scripted (!) jokes by the control room supervisor to keep everyone's morale up and attention focused. The rest of us in the control room acting purely as support personnel stay quietly out of the way as much as possible.
Time to get ready to go replace Valery.
Cheers...
Today, I am among the "essential personnel." Valeri B. and I are spelling each other at approximate 2-hour intervals down in the control room, starting about 8:30 am, for what ought to be a pretty quiet time. When I left about an hour or so ago, the oxidizer flow rate stood at about 5 pounds per minute.
The whole operation will probably take nearly 11 hours, much of that time being spent to load the last 10% or so of propellant at an ever-decreasing flow rate.
There are two people inside the room with the satellite, each wearing a so-called SCAPE suit, which provides a self-contained chemicalproof environment equipped with a breathing air hose. Apparently, there is not much variety in suit sizes and the prop folks from the UK tend to be of fairly compact stature, so the view into the satellite room from the control room shows what appear to be two blue Sta-Puft marshmallow figures (wearing orange footwear) moving around inside.
I am told that the time passes so slowly during this operation - especially for the people in the SCAPE gear - that, in addition to technical communications, an official part of the chatter over the radio channel between the suits and the control room is the telling of scripted (!) jokes by the control room supervisor to keep everyone's morale up and attention focused. The rest of us in the control room acting purely as support personnel stay quietly out of the way as much as possible.
Time to get ready to go replace Valery.
Cheers...
