ATLO is an acronym, it stands for assembly, test and launch operations.
Basically we'll assemble it, and we'll do all the system level testing,
we'll do all the environmental testing, we'll do all the launch processing and then we will go ahead and launch it.
So, in ATLO, you basically start with a bunch of pieces.
We had what was known as the prop module -- that's the large base piece of the structure. On top of the prop module sits the vault.
Individual boxes, flight computers, our power subsystem, all came in separate pieces.
In ATLO, our job is to take all those pieces and come up with a plan and strategy of putting them all together in an organized manner that makes sense.
We have a philosophy at Lockheed Martin to test as you fly.
We have to try to replicate the environment that the spacecraft is going to see in space.
So we basically trick it, through another piece of software, into thinking that it's flying
and so we run through all these scenarios, just like in flight, and we verify that it functionally does what its supposed to do.
So in order to accurately represent all different environments that the spacecraft is exposed to, we need to kind of break up the test individually.
One of the more exciting tests that we got to run on the spacecraft was the solar array deployment test.
We have very large solar arrays on this spacecraft so that once we get to Jupiter, we have enough electricity to operate the spacecraft.
In order to be able to deploy them with low friction, we use a flat floor and a pneumatic device that's kind of like a hovercraft.
A thermal vacuum test is probably the largest, most thorough, complete test that we'll do on a whole entire spacecraft assembly.
So, once we get the spacecraft fully assembled, we will put it in a large chamber that tries to replicate space.
Also within the chamber is a shroud that is filled with liquid nitrogen and it can get as cold as negative 180 degrees C.
So, we try to simulate what environment the spacecraft is going to experience in space.
So we get through these major environmental milestones, verify that the spacecraft is working as we planned,
take it out, verify that functioning works after we do all tests
and we prep it to ship down to the launch site.
On launch day, of course, it's a dream to have perfect weather, no clouds in the sky,
but we have to do with what we have. There are weather rules in place, weather criteria that we cannot violate.
There are rules for cumulus clouds, there are rules for anvil weather clouds, there are rules for lightning within the area,
within 10 miles, within 5 nautical miles, so there are several weather rules in place.
Making a list to get through a launch countdown is the only way to get through a launch,
and even once my list is checked off, I still won't throw it away, because I want to go back and double and triple check to make sure that I did everything on that list.
As soon as we get the go ahead from ULA, we will power up the spacecraft for the final time. We make our spacecraft dirt simple,
so that at the end, there's very few things to go wrong in this very critical time, so our spacecraft is a very easy spacecraft to launch.