Vibration testing for JUICE High Gain Antenna
Date: 15 April 2021
Copyright: Thales Alenia Space / Lightcurve Films
When it launches in 2022, ESA's JUICE – JUpiter ICy moons Explorer – will complete a unique tour of the Jupiter system, and study the planet's three potentially ocean-bearing moons: Ganymede, Europa and Callisto. However, before its journey can begin, JUICE must be rigorously tested to ensure its various components can withstand not only the conditions of a turbulent launch to space, but the punishing conditions once it gets there.
This video shows JUICE's High Gain Antenna, which was designed, produced and supplied by Thales Alenia Space and will provide a way to communicate and exchange data with the spacecraft during its mission, undergoing vibration testing.
Vibration testing mimics the forces and accelerations experienced during launch into space. It forces the antenna to move in both a controlled and random way subject to different vibrations to ensure that a given instrument will not become damaged or fall apart. This video shows the antenna being shaken in two different ways —from side-to-side (Sine Y testing) and up-and-down (Sine X testing).