ESA engineer Jules Noirant takes a broom to a satellite simulator platform, as it floats on a cushion of air over the flattest floor in Europe. The goal is to test the ability of the REACSA platform’s guidance, navigation and control algorithm to respond to resistance to its programmed motion and overcome it.
This ultra-flat 45 sq. m floor is the ORBIT (Orbital Robotics test Bench for Integrated Technology) part of the Orbital Robotics and Guidance Navigation and Control Laboratory at ESA's ESTEC technical centre in the Netherlands.