BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter tilted and rotated on the M80/MPMA test system
BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) tilted and rotated on the M80/MPMA test system, which is fitted with its Mass Properties Measurement Adapter (MPMA). The M80/MPMA is located adjacent to the WM50/6 used for the preceding tests, in the 'Hydra' cleanroom at ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.
The M80/MPMA was used to determine the position of the spacecraft centre of gravity along its longitudinal (roughly vertical, in this configuration) axis, and its moments of inertia and products of inertia about three axes.
Last Update: 1 September 2019