Envisat / Polar Platform Hydra test

Polar Platform structural model undergoing sinusoidal vibration qualification test on ESTEC's new Hydra 6-degrees-of-freedom hydraulic shaker, January 1997. The spacecraft is installed on the Hydra table in its launch configuration. It can be tested in all three orthogonal axes without dismounting or changing the test facility mechanical configuration. It is the first time that a hydraulic shaker of this kind has been used for vibration tests on a satellite system (Hydra's first tests were limited to vertical excitations after a preliminary acceptance of the facility). [Image Date: 01-01-97] [97.01.011-045]