Status Report of MUSES-C Overall Testing

The fuselage of the MUSES-C engineering spacecraft that was temporarily
away from the Sagamihara Campus for rigging a chemical propulsion engine
returned to Sagamihara at the end of April and started the second half of
its overall testing. A preliminary meeting was held on April 26 where
everyone involved participated to discuss testing arrangements. As it is a
planetary explorer, its launch window is restricted, which allows almost no
leeway in the schedule for unexpected delays. During the public holiday
after the meeting, therefore, the MUSES-C group could not take any days
off. The intensified competition between instrumental adjustments and
restricted timeframe also shows that the launch is approaching.

With an addition of a new clean room, there are now three spacecrafts
placed side by side: SOLAR-B in the new clean room, and MUSES-C and ASTRO-F
in the old clean room. Three satellites in a row is in fact a rare
occurrence. From 9 to 9:30 in the morning, many people can be seen coming
and going between A and C Buildings. It is only here at ISAS where you can
hear people asking which morning meetings they are heading for. So many
people are involved in so many mission projects offering support to each
other. As rocket-related work has also started recently, we see many
manufacturers coming in one after another.

There have been increasingly more visitors and reporters after the new
fiscal year started. Although we are a little annoyed at the same old
question, “Can you really do such an outrageous thing?”, repeated so often,
we welcome and are happy to see their interest in space.