ESA Science & Technology - JUICE solar panels ready for thermal testing

Wide Range Test Facility (WRTF) at Centre Spatial de Liège (CSL) in Belgium, with two JUICE flight model solar panels installed, ready to undergo thermal testing, in Summer 2020. The box-shaped WRTF thermal tent was developed and built specifically for JUICE, to allow thermal cycling tests on full size solar panels and over the wide range of temperatures characteristic for the whole mission (from -230 degrees Celsius to +110 degrees Celsius). Installed in an existing cylindrical vacuum chamber at CSL, the WRTF thermal tent uses liquid helium to reach the extreme low temperatures. It can accommodate two panels, each measuring about 2.5 × 3.5 m.