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Meteorological factors postpone STRAPLEX flight |
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Tuesday, 27 March 2007 |
 From the 21st to the 26th of March, STRAPLEX was on the island of La Palma to perform a test for the MORE project. The idea was to verify the ability of the ESA's OGS (Optical Ground Station) to track the roving capsule from the coordinates the latter sends through its telemetry system. The capsule carried retroreflectors that send back and modulate laser signals sent by the OGS.
The telemetry was tuned to work smoothly between the islands of La Palma and Tenerife and the interface to the OGS was also successfully accomplished - the telescope pointed to the coordenates of the capsule as it was placed in different locations in La Palma, near the ORM (Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos).
Only the weather did not allow for optical contact between the OGS and the capsule, thus preventing the experiment to be completed. Everything is ready and looking forward to a night where the stars shine across the two islands. 
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