Pléiades mission countdown.

 

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Episode 2 : 
video of solar panel deployment, August 2009.

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Pléiades-1 has completed a series of tests at Intespace in Toulouse to simulate operating conditions in space. End July, the deployment of one of the satellite’s three solar panels was filmed. In space, this operation will be performed just after reaching orbit. 
 
The three solar panels are mounted directly on the bus structure. This architecture gives the spacecraft extra stiffness, damps vibrations and helps to improve image quality.
The panels will also supply the electricity to power the satellite. 
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Pleiades at a glance

Pleiades is a new generation of wide-swath (20 km), very-high-resolution Earth-imaging satellites. Initiated in 2001, the dual-use Pleiades programme comprises two 1,000-kg satellites phased in the same orbit to provide daily revisits of any point on the globe.

Equipped with innovative, latest-generation space technologies like fibre-optic gyros and control moment gyros, Pleiades-1 (PHR1A) and Pleiades-2 (PHR2A) offer great roll and yaw agility. They can acquire imagery anywhere within an 800-km ground strip in less than 25 seconds with a location accuracy better than 7 metres.

More about Pleiades

 

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