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Mission Status & Events

Completing the thermal blanket patterns
Thermal Blanket Patterns Completed
[15-Apr-10] The thermal blanket patterns for the Aquarius bipod were completed after routing the flight harness from the SAC-D Service Platform (S/P) to Aquarius (see photo, at right). A fit check of half the sunshade was completed to verify the clearance of the Aquarius ground lug as well as the blanket interface with the S/P top deck.

Engineers also verified the grounding resistance between the S/P top deck (near ground strap lug) to the Aquarius Instrument Connector Bracket (AICB), and it met the requirement with margin. The Aquarius Electrical Ground Support Equipment (all the non-flight test equipment we used to connect to Instrument to power and communicate) cables were installed and secured in preparation for Observatory functional testing next week.