BepiColombo Mercury Composite Spacecraft on the M80/MPMA test system
Date: 13 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 M80/MPMA test system, which was used to determine the position of the spacecraft CoG along its longitudinal axis and the Products of Inertia (PoI) about all axes.
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 Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) and Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), the Structural Model (StM) of the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) and the Proto-Flight Model of the Magnetospheric Orbiter Sunshield and Interface Structure (MOSIF).
During the Moment of Inertia (MoI) measurement sequence, the test system supports the test object while it is tilted to various inclinations between 0° and 40°, and moves it horizontally in order to align the CoG of the test object with the centre of the test system. MoI results obtained for various rotations (0° to 360°) of the test object about its longitudinal axis are used to determine the MoI and Products of Inertia (PoI) about its three axes.
