#2: CHEOPS prepares for first spacecraft test campaign
28 September 2015
CHEOPS is progressing steadily through the hardware manufacturing and related testing phase. |
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| (Left) CHEOPS spacecraft Structural Qualification Model (Credit: ADS–Spain) and (right) instrument Structural and Thermal Model (Credit: University of Bern). | |
Over the summer, Airbus Defence and Space (ADS)–Spain, the prime contractor for the CHEOPS spacecraft, completed the manufacturing and integration of the spacecraft platform Structural Qualification Model.
In parallel, the Instrument Consortium, led by the University of Bern, completed the test campaign of the instrument Structural and Thermal Model and delivered the model to ADS-Spain.
The availability of both platform and instrument units allows the integration of the spacecraft-level Structural Model, for which the environmental test campaign is planned to commence at the beginning of October. The first test activities will be mass property measurements carried out at ADS-Spain, followed by vibrations tests at the Zurich premises of RUAG CH.
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| (Left) CHEOPS instrument Structural and Thermal Model and (right) spacecraft Structural Model. Credit: ADS–Spain | |
About CHEOPS
CHEOPS is an ESA mission implemented in partnership with Switzerland, through the Swiss Space Office (SSO). The University of Bern leads a consortium of 11 ESA Member States contributing to the mission and represented in the CHEOPS Science Team. ESA is the mission architect responsible for overall mission definition and procurement of the spacecraft and launch. ESA is also responsible for early operations phase that will be executed by the spacecraft contractor, EADS CASA Espacio S.L. which is part of Airbus Defence and Space. The science instrument is led by the University of Bern, with important contributions from Austria, Belgium, Germany and Italy. Other contributions to the science instrument in the form of hardware or science operations, are provided by Hungary and by France, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom respectively. Following successful in-orbit commissioning of the spacecraft, responsibility for operations will be taken over by the CHEOPS Mission Consortium, with the Mission Operations Centre under the responsibility of Spain and the Science Operations Centre led by and located at the University of Geneva, Switzerland.
