Gaia – Soyuz-STB/Fregat-MT (VS06) – Куру/Синнамари – 20.12.2013 09:12 UTC

[Salo]

https://twitter.com/ESAGaia

@ESAGaia
shipment No.2: #Gaia's sunshield and ground support equipment ready for transport from Toulouse to French Guiana. Take-off later today.
@ESAGaia
#Gaia's 10m diameter sunshield will shade the spacecraft's sensitive telescopes and cameras. http://spaceinvideos.esa.int/Videos/2013/06/Gaia_sunshade_deployment ...

@ESAGaia
#Gaia transport: Antonov aircraft arrived in French Guiana. Off-load of the Deployable Sunshield Assembly (DSA) currently ongoing.

[Salo]

http://www.arianespace.com/news-mission-update/2013/1093.asp

Start-up of payload preparations brings Europe's Gaia another step closer to its mission to map a billion stars

 August 29, 2013 – Soyuz Flight VS07
Europe's billion-star surveyor, Gaia, is getting its first glimpse of the Spaceport where payload preparations have commenced for this spacecraft's launch on an Arianespace Soyuz mission later in 2013.
Gaia is now undergoing processing inside the Spaceport's S1B payload preparation facility – where the advanced "star-mapper" was transported following its delivery this month to French Guiana by a cargo jetliner.
 Today, another cargo aircraft arrived in French Guiana with Gaia's deployable sunshield assembly and electrical ground support test equipment for the spacecraft's pre-launch checkout.  The sunshield – which is to have a diameter of just over 10 meters when opened in space – will permanently shade Gaia's telescopes and will serve as a power generator for the spacecraft.
In a mission organized by the European Space Agency, the spacecraft is designed to chart the locations and motions of a billion stars in order to create the largest-ever three-dimensional map of the Milky Way. Gaia was built by Astrium at its Toulouse, France facility.
Equipped with two optical telescopes to determine star locations and velocities, along with three science instruments and one of the largest digital cameras ever to be placed in space, Gaia is able to detect celestial objects that are a million times fainter than the unaided human eye can see.
For all objects brighter than magnitude 15 (which is 4,000 times fainter than the naked eye limit), Gaia will measure their positions to an accuracy of 24 microarcseconds – which is comparable to measuring the diameter of a human hair from a distance of 1,000 km.
After deployment by Soyuz, Gaia will monitor each of its target stars approximately 70 times over a five-year period and precisely chart their positions, distances, movements and changes in brightness. The spacecraft is expected to discover hundreds of thousands of new celestial objects – including asteroids, comets, extra-solar planets, brown dwarf "failed stars," supernovae and quasars – from its orbital position at the L2 Lagrangian point some 1.5 million kilometers beyond Earth's orbit.
A massive amount of data will be collected over Gaia's planned five-year mission, with its full archive to exceed 1 petabyte in size – providing enough information to tackle many important problems related to the origin, structure and evolutionary history of the galaxy.
 This upcoming Arianespace flight is designated VS07 in the company's numbering system, denoting the seventh Soyuz liftoff from French Guiana since the medium-lift vehicle's October 2011 service entry.


The Gaia "star mapper" spacecraft undergoes its initial checkout process inside the Spaceport's S1B payload preparation facility.


The shipping container with Gaia's deployable sunshield is unloaded from a cargo jetliner that landed today at Félix Eboué International Airport in French Guiana.

[Salo]

http://blogs.esa.int/gaia/2013/09/02/meet-the-team-whats-a-project-controller-doing-all-the-way-into-the-jungle/

Meet the team: what's a Project Controller doing all the way into the jungle?
                
Posted on September 2, 2013 by Kourou Project Team               
                                   
 
Office view at CSG

 A launch campaign is the final big leap for a space project, where all the teams work hand in hand for several weeks: the ESA Team, the Industrial Team, CNES and Arianespace. It sees a significant number of people, performing different activities, fr om the critical fuelling of the spacecraft to the exciting pushing of the final button in the control room.
But there are other people, working a little more in the background, that are necessary for the smooth running of all the compressed and fast activities during the campaign.
For example, what is a Project Controller doing all the way into the jungle, where no programmatic papers nor procurement best practices are needed?
Basically I have to make sure that our work and all the activities in this Guyanese outpost are smoothly running, from the programmatic point of view. Just to give some examples, if some procurement for the spacecraft needs to be performed, or additional services from Arianespace or Astrium are needed, or any programmatic issues come up, like a change in the launch date, I am here to estimate the financial and contractual impacts, initiate the actions and follow up the programmatic route. I'm also here to support the Project Manager and the Launch Campaign Manager in the negotiations with the suppliers, it is far more easy discussing and negotiating around a table, face to face, than in a telecom with 5 hours' time difference! The schedule to get Gaia ready for launch is dense and tight, I have to make sure that bureaucracy does not interfere with the fast running of the launch campaign.
Beside this, to be sure that all the tight operations are under control and on track, the overall schedule needs to be worked upon and swiftly adjusted whenever needed.
More on the practical side, I have to take care of the Project Team "pockets". Nowadays we are used to get away with pin and credit cards, but French Guyana is in South America, despite being a French territory. Paper money is the rule and blithely wavering them around is not safe. So how to get a full tank in the car with no fear to open your purse or settle five weeks of hotel bill, once you have reached the monthly ceiling of your debit card? Pass by my office and I get it sorted out for you! I am organising whatever is financial support for the Team, book keeping and accounting, setting up all the agreements with the local services and liaising with ESA Treasury and Finance. We have also a local bank account and getting it up and running was not a joke, forget about our smooth telematic means and get out quill-pen and inkpot ... At least running around Kourou and Cayenne brings me very close to local people, I have the unusual chance to know better habits and culture of this multicultural country.
Overall, I feel much like a mechanic greasing the engine to be sure that it runs at its best performances, smoothly and efficiently!
We also got to visit the assembly line of the Soyuz and the launch pad. It is truly an impressive set up. Here are some pictures.
 

Soyuz assembly line in the "MIK"

 The Soyuz assembly line in the "MIK" - the Soyuz Launcher Assembly and Integration Building – wh ere all Soyuz launched from CSG are integrated.


Road from assembly facility to launch pad

 The road from the assembly facility to the launch pad, along which the Soyuz will move in vertical position, without the "upper composite", that will be integrated on top of the rocket once at the launch pad. The "upper composite" is the fairing enclosing Gaia and the Fregat (the 4th stage).
 

View down the launch pad
 
 An impressive view down the launch pad. The locations of the boosters are clearly visible.


The gantry covering the launch pad. Shortly before  the launch the gantry slides away to leave the pad uncovered.

Manuela Baroni, Gaia Project Controller

[Salo]

http://www.arianespace.com/news-mission-update/2013/1097.asp

A special sunshield is readied for Arianespace's Soyuz mission with the Gaia star-mapper
September 16, 2013 – Soyuz Flight VS06

The deployable sunshield framework for Europe's Gaia billion-star surveyor has been unpacked at the Spaceport, marking a new milestone in preparations for Arianespace's next mission with its medium-lift Soyuz launcher.

This skirt-type structure will be just over 10 meters in diameter when opened in space, serving as a sunshade to permanently protect Gaia's telescopes and allow their temperatures to drop to below –100 degrees Celsius, while also acting as a power generator for the spacecraft. The shield's underside will be partially covered with solar panels and always is to face the Sun, generating electricity to operate the spacecraft and its instruments.

Gaia was developed by the European Space Agency and produced by Astrium for an ambitious mission to chart a three-dimensional map of the Milky Way.  In the process, it will reveal the galaxy's composition, formation and evolution.

The launch is planned for November 20. With a liftoff mass of 2,030 kg., Gaia is to be placed by the Soyuz launcher on a trajectory to an orbit around the Sun at a location known as the L2 Lagrangian point.

Arianespace's mission with Gaia will be the Spaceport's second liftoff with the Russian workhorse launcher in 2013.  It is now designated Flight VS06, taking the numbering previously assigned to an upcoming Soyuz launch with four O3b Network satellites – which has been delayed at the customer's request.


Gaia's deployable sunshield framework is readied in the Spaceport's S1C clean room facility after removal from its shipping container.

[Salo]

http://www.rssd.esa.int/index.php?project=GAIA&page=index

Mission Status    
Launch
20 November 2013
08:57:30 UTC

[che wi]

Запуск "Союза 2-1Б" с телескопом Gaia назначен на 20 ноября
http://ria.ru/space/20130927/966273056.html

МОСКВА, 27 сен — РИА Новости. Запуск ракеты-носителя "Союз 2-1Б" с европейским космическим телескопом "Гайя" (Gaia, Global Astrometric Interferometer for Astrophysics) назначен на 20 ноября с космодрома Куру во Французской Гвиане, сообщил РИА Новости источник в космической отрасли.

"Целью этого проекта является получение информации о положении и движении примерно миллиарда звезд Млечного Пути с последующим созданием нового фундаментального звездного каталога и трехмерной карты нашей звездной системы. Запуск "Союза" предварительно назначен на 20 ноября с космодрома Куру", — отметил собеседник агентства.

По его словам, телескоп будет работать в оптическом диапазоне. Его планируется вывести в так называемую точку Лагранжа (L2), находящуюся около 1,5 миллиона километров от Земли в противоположном от Солнца направлении, что в несколько раз дальше расстояния между нашей планетой и Луной. Ожидается, что данная позиция наиболее выгодна — траектория оптического телескопа почти не будет страдать от гравитации нашей планеты и звезды, поскольку они уравновешивают друг друга.

Перевод в точку L2 займет около месяца. Там Земля будет загораживать чувствительную аппаратуру телескопа от солнечного излучения. Для максимальной тепло- и светозащиты телескоп оснащен большим разворачивающимся экраном площадью в 100 квадратных метров.

Gaia на данный момент является самым передовым космическим телескопом в мире: у него самый большой цифровой сенсор для космических миссий за всю историю человечества: 106 отдельных CCD-матриц. Общее разрешение системы достигает миллиарда пикселей. Для примера, у известного телескопа "Кеплер" было "всего" 95 миллионов.

[PIN]

che wi пишет:
Перевод в точку L2 займет около месяца.

Не будет он в L2. А будет болтаться около.

che wi пишет:
Там Земля будет загораживать чувствительную аппаратуру телескопа от солнечного
излучения.

Не будет, траектория вокруг L2 будет таковой, что за период активной научной миссии в тень Земли аппарат не должен попасть. Потому, что в этом случае не станет электричества на борту

[LL_]

Так вот оно в чем дело - у них замаскированный РИТЭГ на борту!
А арсенид-галлиевые солнечные батареи для отвода глаз.

[Salo]

http://www.arianespace.com/news-mission-update/2013/1098.asp

The Milky Way-mapping Gaia spacecraft receives its sunshield in preparation for Arianespace's next Soyuz launch
 
September 30, 2013 – Soyuz Flight VS06

A high-tech sunshield to protect the Gaia spacecraft during its deep space mission is now being installed at the Spaceport as preparations continue for Arianespace's Flight VS06 Soyuz launch of the billion-star mapper from French Guiana.
In activity at the Spaceport's S1B clean room facility, the carbon-fiber reinforced composite framework for this deployable skirt-like system has been positioned around Gaia. It clears the way for integration of the sunshield's two parallel multi-layer insulation blankets over the next several days.
Gaia's sunshield performs an essential role: keeping the spacecraft in shadow, and thereby maintaining its scientific instruments at a constant temperature of approximately –110°C.
This will enable Gaia to perform its ambitious mission of making the largest, most precise three-dimensional map of the Milky Way by surveying an unprecedented one percent of its 100 billion stars. Also expected are discoveries of hundreds of thousands of unknown celestial objects, including extra-solar planets and failed stars known as brown dwarfs.
With a deployed sunshield size of some 10 meters across and an area of approximately 75 square meters, the system is composed of a dozen folding panels that will rotate outward from the hexagonal/conical-shaped Gaia to their opened position after the Soyuz launch.
The sunshield was produced by Spain's SENER, while the spacecraft's designer and builder is Astrium – all operating under contract to the European Space Agency, which is responsible for the Gaia mission's development and operation.
After Gaia's launch by Arianespace, the spacecraft will be placed in an orbit around the Sun at the second Lagrange point (L2) – a distance of 1.5 million kilometers from the Earth.
 Flight VS06 is Arianespace's sixth Soyuz launch at the Spaceport – and the medium-lift launcher's first deep-space mission from French Guiana. Liftoff is scheduled for November 20.


 Team members from SENER and Astrium oversee the installation of Gaia's sunshield framework on the hexagonal/conical-shaped spacecraft at the Spaceport in French Guiana.

[Space Alien]

Continued sunshield preparations bring Gaia closer to its deep-space Arianespace Soyuz launch

Payload preparations for Arianespace's next Soyuz launch are progressing well at the Spaceport in French Guiana, where the Gaia billion-star surveyor is receiving its sunshield for in-orbit telescope protection as well as power generation.

This sunshield is one of the final elements in completing the European Space Agency's Gaia, the installation of which has been performed by the assembly, integration and testing team of prime contractor Astrium – with support from Spain's SENER, which produced the sunshield.

The latest activities involved placement of the inner thermal blankets for Gaia's multi-layer sunshield insulation, as well as incorporation of solar array panels that will provide energy to power all on-board electronics. Both elements are positioned on the sunshield's carbon-fiber reinforced composite framework, which also was integrated at the Spaceport.

When the sunshield's 12 folding frames are opened in orbit after launch by Arianespace's Soyuz, the fully-insulated sunshield will form a flat disc at the base of Gaia – shading its telescope from the sun and maintaining the spacecraft's scientific instruments at a constant temperature of approximately -100 degrees Celsius. This will allow Gaia to perform its ambitious mission of making the largest, most precise three-dimensional map of the Milky Way by surveying an unprecedented one percent of its 100 billion stars.

Solar array panels for spacecraft power

The solar array panels fixed to the sunshield will provide approximately 1,850 Watts of electrical power, to be used by Gaia for powering the data processing computers, along with the communications, navigation and thermal control systems.

A massive amount of data will be collected over Gaia's planned five-year mission, with its full archive to exceed 1 petabyte in size – providing enough information to answer questions related to the origin, structure and evolutionary history of the galaxy.

Gaia will be orbited on Arianespace's Flight VS06, which is scheduled for liftoff on November 20 from the Spaceport.  As indicated by the company's launcher family numbering designation, this will be the Spaceport's sixth liftoff with medium-lift vehicle since its introduction at French Guiana in October 2011 by Arianespace.

After being deployed by Soyuz, the 2,030-kg. hexagonal/conical-shaped spacecraft will follow a flight path to an orbit around the Sun at the second Lagrange point (L2) – a distance of 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.  This makes Gaia the first deep space payload launched by Arianespace with Soyuz from the Spaceport.

http://www.arianespace.com/news-mission-update/2013/1100.asp

[phobos24]

Они мостры, 200 м/c закладывают харскорости для выхода на орбиту Лисажу... Так надо делать аппараты. РС на пуск имеем!
БЦ ИПМ

[Salo]

http://www.arianespace.com/news-mission-update/2013/1101.asp

Gaia "opens up" at the Spaceport in preparation for Arianespace's next Soyuz launch
 
October 14, 2013 – Soyuz Flight VS06

Arianespace's payload for the Soyuz VS06 mission in November is now ready to take in some sun on its upcoming deep-space trip, as the completed sunshield for Europe's billion-star surveyor – Gaia – has been opened and validated for the final time at the Spaceport in French Guiana.
 During activity in the Spaceport's S1B clean room facility (pictured at right, fr om top to bottom), Gaia's completed sunshield – which is composed of a carbon-fiber reinforced composite framework with thermal blankets covering the structural skeleton – was lowered around the spacecraft's base, forming a flat disc more than 10 meters across.
 Once deployed in space, this disc will shade Gaia from the Sun, maintaining a -110°C approximate temperature for its scientific instruments. In addition, the sunshield is equipped with solar array panels to power all onboard electronics, including data processing computers, as well as the communications, navigation and thermal control systems.
 Operating under contract to the European Space Agency, the sunshield's installation was performed by prime contractor Astrium's assembly, integration and testing team – with support from Spain's SENER, which is responsible for the sunshield's design and manufacture.
 With a liftoff mass of approximately 2,030 kg. for its Arianespace Soyuz launch, Gaia is tasked with the ambitious mission of measuring the position and velocity of approximately one billion stars, as well as determining their brightness, temperature, composition and motion through space, while creating a three-dimensional map of the Milky Way Galaxy.
 This spacecraft's scientific instruments can detect objects one million times fainter than the unaided human eye can see. For objects 4,000 times dimmer than human viewing lim its, Gaia will measure to an accuracy of 24 microarcseconds – comparable to observing the diameter of one strand of human hair at a distance of 1,000 km.
 As the first deep-space passenger on an Arianespace Soyuz flight from French Guiana, Gaia will operate from the second Lagrange point (L2) in its orbit around the Sun, which keeps it on pace with Earth, while allowing for a more stable viewpoint some 1.5 million kilometers away.
 Designated VS06 in Arianespace's numbering system, this flight – scheduled for a November 20 liftoff – represents the sixth mission of the medium-lift Russian workhorse from French Guiana since its initial launch from the Spaceport in 2011.

[Liss]

Старт все ближе :-)

A0340/13 - TEMPORARY DANGEROUS AREA ACTIVATED DUE TO ROCKET LAUNCHING ARIANE ZA/V706 LATERAL LIMITS AS FOLLOWS QUADRILATERAL: 0527N04933W 0513N04933W 0513N05008W 0527N05008W. AMSL - UNL, DAILY 0755-1015, 20 NOV 07:55 2013 UNTIL 30 NOV 10:15 2013. CREATED: 16 OCT 15:21 2013

A0339/13 - DANGEROUS AREA SOD3 ACTIVATED. DAILY: 0755-1015, 20 NOV 07:55 2013 UNTIL 30 NOV 10:15 2013. CREATED: 16 OCT 15:17 2013

A0338/13 - RESTRICTED AREA SOR4 ACTIVATED. 19 NOV 09:00 2013 UNTIL 30 NOV 09:45 2013. CREATED: 16 OCT 15:11 2013

A0336/13 - RESTRICTED AREA SOR1 ACTIVATED. 23 OCT 09:00 2013 UNTIL 23 OCT 23:00 2013. CREATED: 16 OCT 11:53 2013

[LL_]

[Salo]

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=19838.msg1111090#msg1111090

Nicolas PILLET пишет:
According to a poster on our French forum, the launch is delayed. No more infos as for now.

http://www.forum-conquete-spatiale.fr/t15190p30-lancement-soyouz-vs06-gaia-date-a-venir

Текст сообщения:

Bincha пишет:
REPORT DE VS06 GAIA ( pb satellite) , décidément on risque de ne pas voir de SOYOUZ d'ici la fin de l'année8-)

И перевод:

ДОКЛАД GAIA VS06 (спутниковое б.п.), мы, безусловно, не сможем увидеть Союз в конце года.

[PIN]

До конца года шанс есть. Но вряд ли проблема будет решаться в спешке, никто не подгоняет.

[Разъём]

Съехали на декабрь если успеют заменить то же что и у О3b.

[che wi]

Запуск телескопа "Гайя" отложен из-за проблем с научной аппаратурой
http://ria.ru/space/20131022/971777666.html

МОСКВА, 22 окт — РИА Новости. Запуск российской ракеты "Союз-2.1б" с европейским космическим телескопом "Гайя" отложен из-за проблем с научной аппаратурой на борту спутника, сообщил РИА Новости представитель Европейского космического агентства (ЕКА) Рене Пишель.

"Там возникли какие-то сложности с приборами на борту аппарата, запуск отложен. На какой срок — пока неясно, может быть на неделю, может быть больше", — сказал Пишель.

Ранее запуск "Союза" с космодрома Куру во Французской Гвиане планировался на утро 20 ноября.

Космический телескоп "Гайя" (Gaia, Global Astrometric Interferometer for Astrophysics) предназначен для высокоточных измерений координат и движения миллиарда звезд нашей Галактики с последующим созданием нового фундаментального звездного каталога и трехмерной карты нашей звездной системы.

Аппарат планируется вывести в так называемую точку Лагранжа (L2), находящуюся в около 1,5 миллиона километров от Земли в противоположном от Солнца направлении, что в несколько раз дальше расстояния между нашей планетой и Луной. Ожидается, что данная позиция наиболее выгодна — траектория оптического телескопа почти не будет страдать от гравитации нашей планеты и звезды, поскольку они уравновешивают друг друга.

[PIN]

che wi пишет:
из-за проблем с научной аппаратурой

Нет никаких проблем с "научной аппаратурой". Тьфу-тьфу.

[Salo]

SOE пишет:
До конца года шанс есть. Но вряд ли проблема будет решаться в спешке, никто не подгоняет.

Разъём пишет:
Съехали на декабрь если успеют заменить то же что и у О3b.

А успеют? Пуск Ариан 13 декабря, а между пусками около месяца обычно.