Final presentation of the Large Deployable Sunshield contract
5 September 2005
One of the technical development activities initiated by ESA after the concept and technology study in 2000 was the development of a fully representative deployable Sunshield for Gaia. The study was carried out by Sener (Spain), and directed by Gerard Migliorero (ESTEC). The specifications called for a 'bread board' model of two of the 12 folding panels of an 11-m diameter Sunshield, partly carrying solar panels, and weighing less than 100kg. After deployment, the Sunshield must provide a highly stable mechanical and thermal environment during operation. The study demonstrated that the temperature of the shielded spacecraft can be kept at about 150K, with a stability of a few parts in a thousand over the spin period of 6 hours. The attached movie shows laboratory deployment of the resulting breadboard model.
Last Update: 1 September 2019
