The Venus Express spacecraft has been assembled at Alenia, Torino over
the past 5 months. At the time of these photographs, the satellite was
in its "open" configuration, to allow testing of individual units and
subsystems once mounted on the spacecraft structure.
Just recently, the panels have been closed, in preparation for the
transport of the satellite to Intespace in Toulouse. In this test
centre, the spacecraft will undergo system level tests, in ambient
conditions, in vacuum at extreme temperatures and will also be subjected
to vibration tests, representative of the launch environment. For the
time being, the tests schedule is proceeding as planned, in time for an
October 2005 launch.
Below is a selection of images from the testing phase. Click on an image
to view a larger version.
