We are happy to announce that Celestia STS successfully delivered Euclid Spacecraft Suitcase to Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy. The project started in July 2018 and C-STS acted as the main contractor, responsible for the design implementation, manufacturing and test of various Front Ends and integration of all RF Suitcase elements. While sub-contractor VTT from Finland was responsible for the RF elements.
A number of customer furnished items were integrated to the Spacecraft Suitcase, namely Engineering Models of the spacecraft Transponder, traveling-wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs), Diplexer and Filters. The various suitcase elements were powered, controlled and monitored via a variety of different types of interfaces provided by the associated Front Ends (MIL1553, TM/TC, Discrete).
The Spacecraft Suitcase will be used during Radio Frequency Compatibility Tests (RFCT) before the satellite launch to demonstrate RF compatibility between the satellite X-Band (Transmission/Reception) and K-Band (Transmission) and the receiving Ground Stations. Compatibility tests will be carried out by European Space Agency Space Operations Centre (ESA-ESOC) at the Ground Station Reference Facility (GSRF).
Euclid is an ESA mission to map the geometry of the Universe and better understand the mysterious dark matter and dark energy, which make up most of the energy budget of the cosmos. The mission, scheduled for launch in 2022 by a Soyuz ST 2-1b launch vehicle departing from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
