Sunshield integration
Date: 10 October 2018
Satellite: BepiColombo
Location: Kourou, French Guiana
Copyright: ESA - M. Pedoussaut
The sunshield unit is prepared for integration with the rest of the BepiColombo spacecraft stack. It will protect JAXA's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter en route to Mercury.
By means of an overhead crane the sunshield is manouevred to the hole in the movable access platform, visible in the background just left of centre. Through there it can be lowered to the BepiColombo spacecraft stack that stands directly underneath.
BepiColombo is a joint endeavour between ESA and JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Last Update: 1 September 2019
