Connected to the launcher

Entering the premises of the MEX SCC (Command and Control Systems Maintenance and Exploitation) consortium allows you to get a little closer to the nerve centre of the Ariane Launch Complex (ELA).  From this unique position, the checkout systems – the electronic equipment and software used by the consortium – oversee the remote control of all ELA and Ariane equipment.  In a manner of speaking, the Command and Control Systems work a little like a car’s dashboard.  Just as the dashboard gives the driver precise information about the vehicle’s fuel level or speed, the Command and Control Systems are used to obtain all the necessary pressure or voltage measurements for the launcher and launch facilities.  And in the same way that a car driver uses the dashboard to switch on the air-conditioning, for instance, these complex systems ensure manual or automatic control over all the equipment interfaced with the launcher, such as valves, electrical circuits and sensors.  Until just a few seconds before T-0, the launcher is fully controlled, supplied and monitored from the ground.  In this respect, the checkout systems act like the launcher’s brain and central nervous system.