Present State of the SAC-C Mission
End of the First Stage of the Engineering Phase:
The main objective during the first stage of the engineering phase which the SAC-C temporarily entered was the stabilization of the power subsystem.
The necessary stabilization was entirely successful at the conclusion of this phase (12 December 2002), under the following conditions:
All subsystems and most of the instruments are fully operational and in nominal condition.
Several propulsion maneuvers were also performed in order to maintain the satellite in the orbit of the Morning Constellation.
In this period the following instruments were operating: cameras provided by CONAE: MMRS, HRTC, HSTC, and the following instruments: IST (provided by ASI), GPS (provided by JPL), ICARE (provided by CNES).
Second Stage of the Engineering Phase: Operational Normalization
The objective of this stage, which started in January 2003, is to reach a new stabilization point in the SAC-C power subsystem, with all instruments powered "ON". The first analysis shows that it is possible to reach that situation, maintaining it beyond the end of the estimated mission life-time.
On 19 February 2003 the MMP (DSRI) was successfully powered "ON" after a close interaction with the Danish instrument team who were in charge of the instrument. It is operating nominally. All SAC-C instruments are thus operational, except for the SHM (provided by the JPL) and WT (CONAE’s), which will be powered "ON" in successive steps.
26 February 2003