Monday 27 April 2015

The journey begins... Preparing to leave Stevenage

The final few weeks before heading out to Munich with LISA Pathfinder were a flurry of activity. 

As the Quality Assurance engineer for the spacecraft, I had my hands full juggling all the different activities that needed my support and also completing the final inspections on the spacecraft before it was shipped.




Final Inspection
Pictures are property of Airbus Defence and Space Ltd, reproduced here with permission.

At the same time as the team were preparing the spacecraft, they were also busy preparing all of the supporting equipment required to enable the running of tests while in Germany to proove that the spacecraft works as intended.


Moving all the test equipment out for packing
Pictures are property of Airbus Defence and Space Ltd, reproduced here with permission.


An exciting day was had by all on the day we mated the spacecraft and the propulsion module (thats what we call it when we put the two halves of the spacecraft together) even the press turned up to watch!  Click on the video below to see what happened.


Press coverage of the event can be accessed via the following links:
http://www.satnews.com/story.php?number=859969578&menu=1 )
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31642215
http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/update/2015-02-28/pathfinder-prepares-for-space-launch/
http://www.theguardian.com/science/across-the-universe/2015/mar/03/european-space-agencys-gravity-probe-leaves-uk-for-final-tests-before-launch


Finally, after a long few weeks, we were ready to leave, the spacecraft safely tucked up inside the transport container.



Safely installed into the container.  Pictures are property of Airbus Defence and Space Ltd, reproduced here with permission.
End of a long day!  Pictures are property of Airbus Defence and Space Ltd, reproduced here with permission.

Time to put the lid on – bye LPF, see you in Germany!  Pictures are property of Airbus Defence and Space Ltd, reproduced here with permission.