Testing EarthCARE solar wing

ESA's upcoming EarthCARE mission is being put through its paces at ESA testing facilities in the Netherlands. Engineers have gently unfolded this new satellite’s huge five-panel solar wing to test that it will deploy correctly once it is in space. The solar wing is a critical part of the satellite, providing the energy for EarthCARE to do its job: to quantify the role that clouds and aerosols play in heating and cooling Earth’s atmosphere.