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ISO Cluster-II

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ISO Cluster-II programmes & operations ISO Some of the closest and best-studied star luminous and the bright regions are dark. factories in our Galaxy sprawl across the By penetrating the dust, ISO reveals Operations of ISO continue to go very Orion and Taurus constellations. Without dense regions inside the obscuring clouds smoothly, with all satellite and ground- the extension of its life, ISO could never where new stars are forming. segment systems continuing to perform have looked safely in that direction in the excellently. On 11 December, a third sky as the cold telescope must always station-keeping manoeuvre was remain averted from the intense infrared Cluster-II successfully carried out with performance glow of both the Earth and the Sun. The matching plans to within 0.27%. On the first chance to look at these areas came The contract with the Prime Contractor same day, the third direct measurement in August-September and, despite the Dornier has been successfully negotiated of the amount of liquid helium remaining necessary operational restrictions and agreed by both parties. The on-board was made. The results were described above, many scientific procurement of all spacecraft and consistent with the earlier measurements, observations were performed. With its payload equipment has been initiated, with indications that the lifetime will be at lifetime currently predicted to last until consistent with the delivery of four Cluster the upper end of the predicted range of April 1998, ISO will even have a second spacecraft for launch in mid-2000. For 10 April 1998 ± 2.5 weeks. chance to observe these exciting regions most equipment, this involves a rebuilding in the Spring. of the Cluster-I units, the exceptions During much of September and early being the high-power amplifiers and the October, ISO’s orbital geometry in the The International Astronomical Union (IAU) solid-state recorders. extended mission was such that it holds a General Assembly once every underwent eclipses with durations of up three years. At last Summer’s meeting a The high-power amplifiers for the original to 166.5 min, compared with the design full day was devoted to the presentation mission were delivered by NASA, but value of some 80 min. Additionally, during and discussion of ISO results. Some of those for Cluster-II will now be procured early September, marginal violations of these results dealt with ISO’s unmatched in Europe. For the solid-state recorders, the Earth constraint on the pointing ability to explore and analyse many of the the non-availability of the original direction could not be avoided for some universal processes that made our components and the technological minutes each day as ISO went through existence possible. Taking just one developments that have taken place in perigee. Special operational measures example, impressive ISO data were the meantime have made a new design were therefore put in place for this period, presented of the Trifid Nebula (see appropriate. Minor modifications to including restrictions on pointing below), a region in which a new shorten the experiment-carrying radial directions and on the number of generation of massive stars are forming. booms are also required to allow the instruments that could be used. ISO Seen by visible light, hot young stars light Cluster-II spacecraft to fit inside the Soyuz successfully came through this difficult up a large cloud of gas. It is criss-crossed launch vehicle’s fairing. period with better-than-expected battery by dark dust clouds which divide the and pointing performance and less-than- bright nebula and give it its name. The The partial funding of the payload has expected impacts from the unavoidable ISO image shows a remarkable change in also been successfully initiated, with violation of the pointing constraints. appearance. The dark clouds become contracts signed between the Prime programmes & operations Contractor and the national funding 1998. At Centre Spatial de Liège (B), the there being manpower shortages at some agencies and specific institutes. mirror modules are being tested together institutes. All teams should, nevertheless, with the X-ray baffles. Initial results be ready with the models of their After completion of a feasibility study that confirm that the baffles are effective in instruments to support the STM demonstrated that there are no major their task of preventing off-axis X-rays campaign. problems involved in launching with the from entering the mirror system, without Soyuz vehicle, the Agency has signed an reducing the on-axis performance. The entire ground segment, which will initial contract with Starsem for the command the satellite in orbit and analyse preliminary mission analysis. This study After a short facility calibration period in the scientific data back on the ground, will examine the launch trajectories and late November, the third flight mirror has been reviewed. The Review Board’s resulting mechanical and thermal loads in module is now being tested at Max- report recommended clarification of the full detail. Planck Institute (D), together with a flight ground-segment management structure model of the Reflection Grating Assembly in order to define better the contribution For the ground segment, the implications (RGA). of the instrument teams to the Integral of using only one ground station Science Data Centre (ISDC) and to review (Villafranca) instead of the original two Delivery of the flight-model experiments, further ground-station scenarios in order (Odenwald and Redu) are being originally foreseen for early January 1998, to guarantee full ground coverage for the addressed. The Joint Science Operations has been rescheduled for the March-July mission. Centre is studying software updates for period to allow the necessary calibration processing the scientific data. tests to be conducted at Orsay (F). This planning modification can be accom- Rosetta modated into the overall integration schedule without impacting on the The Phase-B has continued with the XMM spacecraft delivery date. official kick-offs of activities by the platform major subcontractor, Matra The system-level Critical Design Review The ground-segment development work Marconi Space UK, and the avionics was held in September and October. It has progressed according to plan with major subcontractor, Matra Marconi was concluded on 30 October, when the the detailed design phase. Space France. The offer received from Review Board members unanimously the remaining subcontractor for confirmed that the spacecraft design is Following the successful launch of Assembly, Integration and Verification mature and that integration of the flight Ariane-502, the detailed flight parameters (AIV) is still in progress. satellite could commence. are being evaluated by CNES in order to confirm the specified interface and The preparation of the Invitations to Integration of the engineering model of performance parameters. The project has Tender (ITTs) and Requests for Quotation the spacecraft is complete and a series of formally confirmed to Arianespace that (RFQs) for equipment suppliers has been tests have been successfully conducted the scheduled launch date remains progressing in parallel. at Dornier (D). The satellite is currently 2 August 1999. undergoing integrated system testing. By The spacecraft design is currently being the end of April, the final tests on this refined, with attention focussing at this model, namely the electromagnetic Integral early stage on its thermal and mass compatibility tests, will have been aspects. The qualification of the low- completed. The main event recently was the signature intensity, low-temperature solar cells is in of the Arrangement between ESA and the process. Definition of the instrument The environmental test campaign at Russian Space Agency (RSA) concerning designs is also in process. ESTEC in Noordwijk (NL) on the Structural cooperation on Integral, whereby RSA will and Thermal Model (STM) is continuing. provide a Proton launcher in exchange Definition of the ground segment is The Dornier (D) and Comet teams have for a share of the scientific data. The proceeding on schedule, with attention succeeded in maintaining their respective signature formalises the launcher baseline currently focussed on release of the schedules and the test results obtained to to which the project had been working for Rosetta Mission Implementation Plan and date have reinforced confidence in the the past several years and opens clearer on the development of the 32 m deep- overall system design. channels of communication for further space antenna to be located in Perth, interface work with the Proton launch Western Australia. Flight equipment is currently being authorities. delivered in time for the integration of the flight satellite to start early in 1998, as The spacecraft development work is Artemis foreseen. progressing nominally. Some ground- support equipment and parts of the Flight-model integration is continuing with The tests on the third flight mirror module Structural and Thermal Model (STM) are nearly all payload equipment now confirmed a performance significantly being delivered by the subcontractors, in integrated onto the flight spacecraft better than specified. Media Lario (I) is preparation for the STM test campaign panels. The Silex optical data-relay now working on the spare model, which planned for April. Payload-instrument terminal has also been delivered to Alenia will be delivered at the beginning of April development is also progressing, despite Aerospace in Rome. Final integration of programmes & operations the spacecraft is awaiting delivery of the and the plans for the Cloud Lidar and activities involve the integration of the last items from subsystem testing. Radar Experiment, CLARE 1998, have ASAR EM and satellite-level tests been presented to the User Community, (integrated system tests and EMC). Development of the operations ground at a Workshop on 12-14 November. segment is in full swing, with integration The flight-model (FM) Payload Module of the prime telemetry, tracking and structure has been refurbished and command (TTC) station due to integration of the FM harness is in commence shortly.
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