Klaus Koeble, head of EADS Astrium's TerraSAR-X launch team on site in Baikonur, regularly reports the current status of activities from Baikonur:

While spring is reaching Baikonur (temperatures have risen to about 10 degrees C), the EADS Astrium engineers have spent most of the last days in the clean room in order to complete a crucial series of tests on TerraSAR-X.

After the final software-upload onto the mass storage device and a successful verification of all functionalities and performances, the spacecraft is now in the final operational configuration status.

At this stage, the team was now able to test the autonomous functionality of the satellite - a crucial and very exciting test, which brought almost the entire team into the integration room. Tension and excitement were high, and so were joy and relief when this test could also be completed successfully.

TerraSAR-X itself has now completed all tests necessary prior to launch; the next step will now be the fuelling of the spacecraft and the preparations of the launch itself. It is expected that this will require four to six weeks of further preparation.

The next DNEPR launch, bringing the Egyptian satellite Egyptsat into orbit, have been postponed to April 17th. Following this, the final launch preparations for TerraSAR-X can begin, permitting a potential launch date in late May.