The purpose of the operation was to collect telemetry data, sending the information in real time to the Mission Control Center at the Guyanese Space Center (GSC)
Air Force Agency – CLBI, by Capt. Elio
The Barreira do Inferno Launching Center (CLBI – Centro de Lançamento da Barreira do Inferno), a Military Organization subordinated to the Department of Aerospace Science and Technology (DCTA), performed, on April 14, the tracking of the ARIANE VA-260 Vehicle, launched from the Guyanese Space Center (CSG), located in Kourou, French Guiana. The purpose of the operation was to collect telemetry data, sending such information in real time to the Mission Control Center at the CSG.
On schedule, the vehicle was launched at 09h15 (Brasília time). Second in the tracking chain, the Natal Station executed all the protocols established in the International Cooperation Agreement for the success of the mission, starting at 09h22m, for six minutes.
In this launch, the vehicle carried as payload the JUICE (Jupiter Yce Moons Explorer) Interplanetary Spacecraft, whose mission is to explore three moons of Jupiter: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa, in order to analyze possibly habitable environments.
In the opportunity, undergraduate and doctoral students in physics and astronomy from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, and members of the Regional Office of the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB), got to know the activities performed during the Tracking Operations, with the proposal of contributing to the expansion of the scope of knowledge and encouraging the group in the areas of science, technology and space.
The CLBI Director, Aviator Colonel Erivando Pereira Souza, praised the commitment and professionalism in face of the situational awareness in which the Organization is inserted and its impact in the national and international scenario. “The Brazilian Air Force maintains its history of composing this international team, which tracks and collects crucial information from a launch vehicle on its way to the desired orbit. It is really a satisfaction to see that several technological advances on the planet, and even outside of it, have the participation of our team,” he said.
Photos: CLBI