Wednesday February 4^th 2009. Launch -71 days.

It has been a long, hard day. This will be a shorter note than usual because it’s late and I’m tired, having left home before 9 this morning and got home around 9 tonight.

Everything has two readings. On one level, it is disappointing that we still have some problems and bugs in the system. On another, the fact that we are trying out a completely new piece of software that will be essential when we are in flight (it checks to see what gaps there are in the telemetry received from the satellite – something that is bound to happen occasionally when we are receiving data for up to 3 hours from a satellite that is 1.8 million kilometres away). What the system is getting is a thorough check-out. Better to sort the bugs out now than later. That is the reason why we have to test, test and then test again.

This morning was dedicated to working on compiling the report on the last round of tests before Christmas and to the morning briefing. This afternoon, to learning how to process the observations that the instrument teams send us. The system is intimidating but after a bit of practice it became easier to manage. By the evening though it felt as if someone had been pounding my brain flat.