Friday March 6th 2009. Launch -41 days. 1 day to golf match with NASA.

 

Today a second instrument has passed its tests and pre-launch review. The third and final instrument tests on Monday. Everything that we are hearing from Kourou suggests that things are going well there. After years of problems, difficulties, set-backs and delays as engineers attempted to solve the myriad problems of designing and constructing what is by far the biggest and most complex telescope ever sent into space, it is rather odd to go into fast forward mode. Over the last six months there have been no significant delays, just solid progress. Preparations of Herschel and Plank are nearing completion. The Herschel mirror has been cleaned, ready for launch and is protected by an impermeable cover in the clean room at Kourou.

 

Once the tests in Kourou finish the two satellites will be fuelled-up. Herschel will be in a very unstable orbit that will need constant correction to keep it on station at Lagrange. Its orbital period will be 6 months, but approximately once a month the thrusters will be used to make tiny corrections. Without them, Herschel will slowly drift away from Lagrange ending up lost in space.

 

For us, next week is a critical one. Today we had our final preliminary meeting. Everyone gave a “go” for the tests to commence. There seems to be a quiet confidence in the team that we are ready and up for the challenge. Hopefully this will not be shown to be overconfidence and false optimism. We need to get a good start; if we can do that everything else should be smooth going. Success breeds confidence. People have spent months hunting and fixing bugs; now it is time for them to see the fruits of their labours.

 

Today the storm has passed and the weather is again spring-like. Tomorrow promises to be sunny, but somewhat windy. We will see if we can cope. Tomorrow’s match is essentially a friendly one: in May we will have genuinely competitative action for the first time and it may not be a pretty sight. Avoiding looking ridiculous will be a triumph in itself. We meet at 9 tomorrow morning for the drive to the course.

 

This week I have gone to bed with Bruce Willis one night, “Omens” another and James Bond another couple. Tonight it’s Eragon: enjoyable, but not a classic. I may not have the patience to see it through to the end – give me Harry Potter any day – and may, instead, slope off with the Stainless Steel Rat and read in bed for a while. In fact, that seems like a good idea.