ESA’s Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) spaceplane on display

This drop-test model of ESA’s Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) spaceplane will be one of the star attractions of the Sunday, 5 October ESTEC Open Day.

This replica was built to be dropped from a helicopter and parachuted into the Mediterranean, to ensure the flight model would survive splashdown at the end of its plunge from space.

The actual spaceplane will fly on a Vega launcher this November, coasting as high as 450 km before gliding back to Earth. In the process, it will gather valuable data on atmospheric reentry conditions.

The flight model was, until this week, being tested for space only a few tens of metres away from its drop-test twin, within the cleanroom environment of the ESTEC Test Centre.

With its test programme complete, it has now been flown to Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana to begin its launch campaign.

Having been designed for a sea splashdown, the drop-test model can readily withstand the Dutch weather. Visitors can view it in its new position outside the Test Centre throughout the Open Day.

ESA Mirror array in Large Space Simulator

Credit: ESA-A. Le Floc'h

This vast enclosure, made to appear larger still by an array of mirrors at its end, is ESA's Large Space Simulator.

Europe's largest vacuum chamber, the LSS subjects entire satellites to space-like conditions ahead of launch.

This 15 m-high and 10 m-diameter chamber is cavernous enough to accommodate an upended double decker bus.

Visitors to this year's ESTEC Open Day will have the chance to see it for themselves.

Satellites are lowered down through a topside hatch. Once the top and side hatches are sealed, high-performance pumps create a vacuum a billion times lower than standard sea level atmosphere, held for weeks at a time during test runs.

ESA BepiColombo in ESTEC's LSS

Credit: ESA

The 121-segment mirror array seen in the image reflects simulated sunlight into the chamber, at the same time as the walls are pumped full of –190°C liquid nitrogen, together recreating the extreme thermal conditions prevailing in orbit.

Embedded sensors and measurement devices check whether a mission's thermal engineers have done their job well, and if the test satellite maintains an acceptable internal temperature range without buckling or other unwanted temperature-driven effects.

The LSS, seen here during a past refurbishment, is an essential part of ESA's Test Centre in the Netherlands, the largest facility of its kind in Europe, providing a complete suite of equipment for all aspects of satellite testing under a single roof.

Third Galileo FOC satellite arrives at ESA's test centre

Technicians roll out the third Galileo Full Operational Capability (FOC) satellite from its protective container after its arrival in the cleanroom environment of the ESTEC Test Centre in April 2014. 

Image courtesy ESA-Anneke Le Floc'h.

Europe's latest Galileo navigation satellite has arrived at the Space Agency's Netherlands-based technical centre for testing, as the previous two satellites are prepared for transport to French Guiana for launch in summer this year.

The new satellite travelled safely enclosed within an air-conditioned and environmentally-controlled protective container from its manufacturer, OHB in Bremen, Germany, to ESA's ESTEC Test Centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

The specially-engineered container was only unsealed once the satellite completed its journey by road to the cleanroom conditions of the Test Centre, Europe's largest site for spacecraft testing, containing a suite of test facilities for space simulations and testing under a single roof.

Meanwhile the previous two Galileo satellites have completed their long test campaign at the Test Centre, and are being finalised for shipping to Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana, for launch together by Soyuz.

Europe's first four Galileo satellites are already in orbit, the minimum number needed for achieving a position fix.

These 'In-Orbit Validation' satellites served to demonstrate the overall Galileo system works as planned, while also serving as the operational nucleus of the full Galileo constellation to follow.

Next comes the 22 'Full Operational Capability'(FOC) satellites being made by OHB in Germany, incorporating navigation payloads produced by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd in the UK.

The three FOC satellites currently at ESTEC are the first of these 22 to be tested for launch - all of them will pass through the gates of ESTEC within the next few years on their way to space.

Now detailed 'acceptance testing' will be carried out on this latest arrival, to check the satellite workmanship is up to standard.

A fourth FOC satellite is scheduled to arrive at the ESTEC Test Centre in June 2014- the test facilities can accommodate two Galileos at a time.

Such a changeover between FOC satellites arriving as others are being readied to leave for launch will become commonplace in the next few years, as Europe builds up its constellation.

And in future two-satellite Soyuz launches will be supplemented by four-satellite Ariane 5 launches, employing a specially customised version of the launcher.

ESA Open Day: Bepi-Colombo Mercury modules on view

Clad in white to stay cool, these modules making up BepiColombo – the ESA–Japan mission to scorching Mercury – will be on show to the public at this Sunday’s ESTEC Open Day, part of World Space Week.

BepiColombo must withstand temperatures of 450°C as it surveys the Solar System’s innermost planet, so long ground tests were essential.

This is the ‘engineering model’ of the spacecraft, basically identical to the flight model but built specifically for testing.

The Mercury Transfer Module, bottom, will transport the mission to Mercury using chemical and electric thrusters.

The Mercury Planetary Orbiter, above it, will study the planet with a variety of cameras and other sensors.

An additional module, Japan’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, not seen here, will study Mercury’s mysteriously strong magnetic field.

BepiColombo is on display as part of the ESTEC Open Day this Sunday, when ESA’s technical heart opens its doors to the public.

Visitors will have a chance to meet astronauts, talk to the scientists and engineers designing and running ESA missions, and handle retrieved hardware that has flown in space.

Visitors have to register through this link: www.esa.int/estecopenday2013. Because ESA are obliged to limit the total number of visitors, to ensure a great experience for all who do attend, they urge you to book as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

ESA ESTEC Open Day - Video Overview