Future developments

In the near future, capabilities at the GSRF will evolve to meet the demands of future missions.

This includes, for example, the installation of the avionics engineering models from Gaia (already located on site) and BepiColombo (to be delivered in 2018). These sets of hardware are faithful replicas of the avionics – the essential flight-control systems – of these two spacecraft, and their addition will enable the GSRF to conduct even more comprehensive testing and validation.

“These engineering models will enable engineers to test software for the two spacecraft in a safe environment, before uploading to the actual spacecraft,” says Chris Smith, an engineer working in the facility.

Whether flying multi-year missions around Earth or deep in our Solar System, spacecraft operations is a challenging business.

The GSRF is one more way that ESA ensures missions are safe and successful and meet their increasingly challenging scientific goals.