Custom-built radiator for Herschel testing

Before launch, each satellite has to go through very tough environmental and functional pre-launch tests to ensure that the spacecraft and its components will be able to withstand the launch and operational phases in perfect conditions.

On 28 October 2008, Herschel was lifted into the Large Space Simulator (LSS) situated at ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), in the Netherlands, for thermal balance and thermal vacuum tests. The LSS provides a simulation of the environmental conditions that the satellite will face once in orbit, to verify the right performance of the spacecraft and its payload.

The picture shows the custom-built radiator used to simulate the thermal environment generated by the Sun and the solar radiation that will hit Herschel's solar array and sunshield.