ESA Science & Technology - BepiColombo Mercury Composite Spacecraft on the Multishaker

The BepiColombo Mercury Composite Spacecraft on the Multishaker in the Test Centre at ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, prior to a low-level sinusoidal vibration test run along the X-axis.

On the near face of the Mercury Transfer Module, which is at the bottom of the stack and just above the cone-shaped Vibration Test Adapter (VTA), is a mass dummy representing one of the two solar array panels in its stowed configuration. The Mercury Planetary Orbiter, in the centre of the stack, is also fitted with a mass dummy of its solar array; the edge of this is just visible at the extreme right of the spacecraft.