LABUM reflector lowered into LSS

An experimental 5 m-diameter reflector being lowered into ESA’s Large Space Simulator, marking the first full-scale environmental testing of ESA's new LABUM – Large Apertures Based on Ultrastable Shell-Membrane – technology. Made of carbon fibre reinforced silicone, if the reflector appears translucent because it is about few tenths of a mm thick – thinner than a piece of card. The LABUM test campaign took place at ESA's ESTEC Test Centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands in late February 2016.