SPIRE switch-on

After the successful launch of Herschel and Planck satellites with Ariane-5 on 14 May 2009, and after few days of Low Earth Orbit Phase (LEOP), the commissioning of the Herschel telescope started. Initially the instruments were planned to be switched on starting on day 9 (22 May 2009) but were put forward by 3 days.

SPIRE was the first instrument to go on day 6, followed by the other two instruments HIFI and PACS on day 11.

May 19th, 2009 (OD06, day of year 139) 11:34:54 UTC, the day we switched on SPIRE, one of the detectors on board Herschel Observatory. This is the moment when the command was sent to the spacecraft and executed with success. A great moment for the whole mission.
The command sent by the operator to the spacecraft: SwOn_Spire_HSPDU_N_L11 at 2009.139.11.34.56.493 executed with status all green!




The SPIRE team running the switch on and the manual commanding:

From left to right:
Anthony Marston (HIFI person) is the group leader of the Instrument and Calibration Scientists at the Herschel Science Centre, ESA.
Tanya Lim, SPIRE ICC manager. She is the QLA operator.
Matt Griffin, SPIRE PI. He supervises the activities.
Markos Trichas, SPIRE ICC worker. He keeps the log of what is being done.
Bruce Swinyard, SPIRE co-PI. He also supervises the activities as well as the first real time data analysis.
Sunil Sidher, SPIRE Instrument Scientist. He is the one who interacts with the MOC operator and commands the whole parade.
Ken King, SPIRE ICC. He is checking the real time telemetry packets.