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Tapping away like crazy...
Oct. 18th, 2006 10:11 pmThe Metop satellite launch, which was postponed until last night after three unsuccessful attempts to launch in July, was grounded for the second time in a row tonight, for weather reasons. Today, we learned that a pressure switch failed to report the existence of a pressure somewhere to the launch control computer, resulting in a proper (from the algorithmic point of view) yet incorrect (the pressure was there, it was the sensor that malfunctioned) abort of the launch process. Presumably, another attempt will be made to launch tomorrow, and hopefully, that launch will go off as planned.
The hope is based on more than just good will toward fellow rocketeers, as the Metop people are using the facilities at a place called "Area 31" here at Baikonur, which also houses the facilities to be used next week to load the high-pressure propellant tanks of our upper stage, and the reasoning goes that if the Metop people are still hanging around while our hardware is supposed to be in their area, something's gotta give, and the result may adversely impact our schedule. I'm no expert, but the argument sounds plausible.
In the meantime, I used Google Earth to line up the Fili and the Soyuz launch pad, and found that it was located in a significantly different place than I imagined it to be via "dead reckoning." I still can't place the pad exactly, but at least now I know it is slightly - just how slightly is what is puzzling me now - to the left of our Pad 39 looking out the hotel's front gate.
In other news, the day was pretty busy for me: I handled the morning meeting, a short translation into Russian (for which I'd grade myself a "B," based on Viktor's comments), then a walkdown of the facility to be used tomorrow for oxidizer loading, and finally the prop load go/no-go meeting. All of the aforementioned went smoothly. In the afternoon, after my assigned work period had come to a close, I took a short nap and completed the last 1500 words of a project I'd picked up a few days ago and which I just sent off.
Maya and I are to report for oxidizer loading duty tomorrow at 7 am, for a procedure that's expected to last all day. Dwight, the safety engineer, is hoping it's going to be a monumentally boring day. I second that notion. In the meantime, sleep sounds like a pretty good idea.
Cheers...
The hope is based on more than just good will toward fellow rocketeers, as the Metop people are using the facilities at a place called "Area 31" here at Baikonur, which also houses the facilities to be used next week to load the high-pressure propellant tanks of our upper stage, and the reasoning goes that if the Metop people are still hanging around while our hardware is supposed to be in their area, something's gotta give, and the result may adversely impact our schedule. I'm no expert, but the argument sounds plausible.
In the meantime, I used Google Earth to line up the Fili and the Soyuz launch pad, and found that it was located in a significantly different place than I imagined it to be via "dead reckoning." I still can't place the pad exactly, but at least now I know it is slightly - just how slightly is what is puzzling me now - to the left of our Pad 39 looking out the hotel's front gate.
In other news, the day was pretty busy for me: I handled the morning meeting, a short translation into Russian (for which I'd grade myself a "B," based on Viktor's comments), then a walkdown of the facility to be used tomorrow for oxidizer loading, and finally the prop load go/no-go meeting. All of the aforementioned went smoothly. In the afternoon, after my assigned work period had come to a close, I took a short nap and completed the last 1500 words of a project I'd picked up a few days ago and which I just sent off.
Maya and I are to report for oxidizer loading duty tomorrow at 7 am, for a procedure that's expected to last all day. Dwight, the safety engineer, is hoping it's going to be a monumentally boring day. I second that notion. In the meantime, sleep sounds like a pretty good idea.
Cheers...
