Euclid’s ‘twin’ arrives at ESA mission control

ESA’s Euclid observatory has begun to survey billions of galaxies on a quest to uncover the secrets and techniques of dark matter and darkish power from its vantage level 1.5 million km from Earth.

The spacecraft is operated by groups at ESA’s ESOC mission management, who ship instructions, obtain information and standing data and make sure the well being and functioning of the satellite.

These groups depend on a one-of-a-kind take a look at bench referred to as an “avionics mannequin” to diagnose and resolve points skilled by the Euclid flight mannequin in space and to check procedures and software program on the bottom earlier than they’re executed on the true spacecraft.

An avionics mannequin is an electrically trustworthy replication of the satellite’s avionics—the units, {hardware} and software program on a spacecraft that allow it to be managed from the bottom, together with propulsion, attitude control, communication, computer systems and navigation, and its scientific devices.

The Euclid Avionics Mannequin started its life on the spacecraft’s producer, Thales Alenia House in Torino, Italy, and was lately delivered to ESOC in Darmstadt, Germany.

“The Euclid flight management group now has direct access to a completely purposeful duplicate of the interior workings of the satellite,” says spacecraft operations supervisor Micha Schmidt.

“The avionics mannequin has already confirmed crucial to the mission. It was used extensively throughout Euclid’s demanding commissioning phase to validate the security and effectiveness of critical updates to the Fine Guidance Sensor and different on-board software program on the bottom earlier than we uploaded them to the spacecraft.”

The flight management group is at the moment present process coaching on the use and upkeep of the Euclid mannequin, which can stay at ESOC for the remainder of the mission.