The ISBE's function at ASTRIUM

The ISBE (Electrical Ground/Onboard Interface) is involved at the launch table during all the different phases of the preparation campaign. Even after lift-off, once the table has been made safe, the ISBE team is responsible for deinstalling all plugs and cables, disconnecting the customer racks and ensuring they are checked for the revalidation of the table.

In the Astrium premises on the ground floor of the Kepler building, there are cables of all kinds, batteries of all sizes, toolboxes, electronic equipment, test tubes, computer racks. The watchwords here are cabling, connections and power. The ISBE team is involved at every stage of the campaign, whenever one or more electrical or measuring cables on the table need connecting or disconnecting.

During the campaign, the ISBE team connects the customer racks to the different elements as required, because satellite customers are not permitted to intervene directly on the table. The team is also responsible for inspecting the payload adaptors (ACUs) in the Final Assembly Building. It verifies the ACUs’ electrical connections and the pyrotechnic lines using a tool called SACCHA. These connections pass through electrical umbilical connectors located between the table’s mast and the launcher. In general, it verifies all the electrical connections between the table and the bay, the fairing and the main cryogenic stage. These interface cables activate the launcher as operations proceed.

The ISBE team are also responsible for routing cables known as CCEs (electric base cables) which run between the table and the underside of the launcher, where the chambers for the ground/onboard links (LBSs) are sited. These cables must be capable of sending all the necessary power to the launcher, as well as transmitting the different activation controls, especially during the flight sequence. This is extremely sensitive equipment that is particularly complex with regard to the connectors. For this reason, these special cables are sent to the manufacturer in mainland France after each launch for disassembly, analysis and revalidation of the connectors. The umbilical connectors cast off during lift-off and left alongside the mast are also returned to mainland France. Indeed, all the equipment is sufficiently technically complex that it needs to be revalidated in mainland France.