{"id":239233,"date":"2016-01-27T04:35:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-27T08:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?guid=c563dfeff7f7b711e108d8580e728914"},"modified":"2016-01-27T04:35:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-27T08:35:00","slug":"radio-testing-of-bepicolombo-orbiter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=239233","title":{"rendered":"Radio testing of BepiColombo orbiter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\nIf ESA\u2019s Mercury orbiter of the BepiColombo mission seems to stand at an unusual angle above its test chamber floor, that\u2019s because it does \u2013 intentionally so.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe orbiter underwent \u2018electromagnetic compatibility, radiated emission and susceptibility\u2019 testing last month inside the Maxwell chamber of ESA\u2019s ESTEC Test Centre<\/a> in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.\n<\/p>\n

\nMaxwell\u2019s shielded metal walls and doors form a \u2018Faraday cage\u2019 to block unwanted external electromagnetic radiation, while its internal walls are cover with \u2018anechoic\u2019 radio-absorbing foam pyramids to mimic boundless space.\n<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe are performing two types of compatibility testing,\u201d explained Marco Gaido, assembly, integration and test manager for BepiColombo.\n<\/p>\n

\n\u201cFirst, we are checking the craft is electrically compatible with the electrical field generated by the Ariane 5 launcher that will deliver it into orbit, with no possibility of interference with BepiColombo\u2019s receivers.\n<\/p>\n

\n\u201cSecondly, we are testing if there is any risk of incompatibility between the different subsystems of the spacecraft itself when it orbits Mercury. In particular, we want to check that its trio of antennas on top can communicate properly with Earth.\n<\/p>\n

\n\u201cAccordingly, it was deliberately oriented to simulate a worst-case scenario for test purposes.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\nThe orbiter was positioned to allow deployment of its medium-gain antenna in terrestrial gravity. The high-gain antenna reflector meanwhile was deployed in a worst-case position, supported by a dedicated fixture.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe spacecraft was tilted by means of a large platform while the high-gain antenna was supported by a tower made of wood, transparent to radio waves. All test cables used were shielded to reduce potential interference.\n<\/p>\n

\nESA\u2019s Mercury Planetary Orbiter will be launched to Mercury together with Japan\u2019s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter aboard an ESA-built carrier spacecraft, the Mercury Transfer Module. This entire three-module BepiColombo<\/a> stack will undergo similar testing at ESTEC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\nIf ESA’s Mercury orbiter of the BepiColombo mission seems to stand at an unusual angle above its test chamber floor, that’s because it does – intentionally so.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe orbiter underwent ‘electromagnetic compatibility, radiated emission and susceptibility’ testing last month inside the Maxwell chamber of ESA’s ESTEC Test Centre<\/a> in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.\n<\/p>\n

\nMaxwell’s shielded metal walls and doors form a ‘Faraday cage’ to block unwanted external electromagnetic radiation, while its internal walls are cover with ‘anechoic’ radio-absorbing foam pyramids to mimic boundless space.\n<\/p>\n

\n“We are performing two types of compatibility testing,” explained Marco Gaido, assembly, integration and test manager for BepiColombo.\n<\/p>\n

\n“First, we are checking the craft is electrically compatible with the electrical field generated by the Ariane 5 launcher that will deliver it into orbit, with no possibility of interference with BepiColombo’s receivers.\n<\/p>\n

\n“Secondly, we are testing if there is any risk of incompatibility between the different subsystems of the spacecraft itself when it orbits Mercury. In particular, we want to check that its trio of antennas on top can communicate properly with Earth.\n<\/p>\n

\n“Accordingly, it was deliberately oriented to simulate a worst-case scenario for test purposes.”\n<\/p>\n

\nThe orbiter was positioned to allow deployment of its medium-gain antenna in terrestrial gravity. The high-gain antenna reflector meanwhile was deployed in a worst-case position, supported by a dedicated fixture.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe spacecraft was tilted by means of a large platform while the high-gain antenna was supported by a tower made of wood, transparent to radio waves. All test cables used were shielded to reduce potential interference.\n<\/p>\n

\nESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter will be launched to Mercury together with Japan’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter aboard an ESA-built carrier spacecraft, the Mercury Transfer Module. This entire three-module BepiColombo<\/a> stack will undergo similar testing at ESTEC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":615444,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-multimedia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=239233"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239234,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239233\/revisions\/239234"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/615444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=239233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=239233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=239233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}