Gaia M5 mirror
![](https://cdn.sci.esa.int/documents/33580/35361/1567218336126-M5_inspection_small_625.jpg)
Date: 30 November 2009
Satellite: Gaia
Depicts: Inspection of M5 mirror
Copyright: ESA
The Gaia M5 mirror undergoing inspection at the premises of Advanced Mechanical and Optical Systems (AMOS) in Liege, Belgium, in November 2009.
The 540 × 336 mm mirror was fabricated from sintered silicon carbide (SiC) by Boostec at Bazet near Tarbes, France.
The mirror surface was coated with a layer of silicon carbide using chemical vapour deposition (CVD). The CVD layer of all Gaia mirrors is applied by Schunk Kohlenstofftechnik in Heuchelheim, Germany.
Last Update: 1 September 2019