Hera spacecraft with solar wing deployed
Hera spacecraft with solar wing deployed
The Hera spacecraft with one of its two solar wings during a test campaign at the ESTEC test centre in the Netherlands. The spacecraft, which is the size of a minibus (left), is powered by two solar wings with three panels each, which were supplied by Beyond Gravity in Switzerland. One of these five-metre-long wings was attached to the probe for the ‘cold deployment check’. This tests the correct position of the wing. As the solar wings are designed for operation in microgravity, they are supported by a frame during this test deployment.
