BepiColombo Mercury Composite Spacecraft on the WM50/6 test system
Date: 08 June 2012
Satellite: BepiColombo
Depicts: Mercury Composite Spacecraft
Location: Hydra cleanroom, European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), the Netherlands
Copyright: ESA/Anneke Le Floc'h
BepiColombo Mercury Composite Spacecraft (MCS) on the WM50/6 test system, which was used to measure the position of the spacecraft CoG along the lateral (horizontal, in this configuration) axes.
The order of the components above the test system is: Physical Properties Adapter (PPA) – a circular plate that connects the Lower Handling Adapter (LHA) to the mechanical interface of the WM50/6, the LHA (white conical structure), the Mercury Transfer Module (MTM), the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), which is now concealed by the sunshield component of the Magnetospheric Orbiter Sunshield and Interface Structure (MOSIF).
This is the first time that the composite spacecraft structural and thermal model has been fully integrated, producing the configuration in which it will be launched and effect the transfer to Mercury. It is made up of the Structural and Thermal Models (STM) of the MTM and MPO, the Structural Model (StM) of the MMO and the Proto-Flight Model of the MOSIF.
