Latest tests for ESA’s Euclid space telescope

20 Feb. () –

ESA’s Euclid space telescope is undergoing final tests before launch in July 2023.

In the image it is seen in a special room of the Thales Alenia Space test facilities in Cannes (France), where it was successfully tested for electromagnetic compatibility.

This type of testing is routine on spacecraft. All electronic devices emit some form of electromagnetic waves that can cause interference with other devices. Similar to the buzz emitted from loudspeakers just before an incoming call on a mobile phone, electronics in spacecraft can cause similar interference, but in space such interference can have disastrous consequencesso all systems should be checked before launch.

The TAS test chamber, called the Compact Antenna Test Range, simulates the electromagnetic environment of deep space, being lined with cones that absorb radio signals and prevent reflections. To prevent TV or radio interference, the chamber walls form a steel Faraday cage, impenetrable to electromagnetic signals from the outside world.

In this radiation-free environment, the team studied the radio signals and electrical noise coming from the various systems on the spacecraft and checked whether they caused electromagnetic interference with each other, ESA reports.

ESA’s Euclid mission is designed to explore the composition and evolution of the dark universe. The space telescope will create a large map of the large-scale structure of the universe through space and time by observing billions of galaxies up to 10 billion light yearsin more than a third of the sky.

Euclid will explore how the universe has expanded and how its structure has formed throughout cosmic history, revealing more about the role of gravity and the nature of dark matter and energy.