Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #esatech
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In a corner of #ESATech centre #ESTEC in #NL is what looks like a wall hanging – but is actually part of @HubbleTelescope’s space-flown solar array. How did it come to be here? Therein lies a tale… #Hubble30 1/28 
In 1977, NASA and ESA made a deal on @HubbleTelescope - ESA gained 15% of telescope observing time, and access to all data, in return for contributing an instrument (the Faint Object Camera), designing and building Hubble’s solar array & providing engineering support 2/28
Solar arrays? Sounds simple enough... but @HubbleTelescope presented special engineering challenges. To begin with, these solar arrays were going to be taken back to Earth, afterwards, to find out first-hand how orbital hardware endures in space – so needed careful design 3/28
2/19 NASA’s @ParkerSunProbe goes even closer than @ESASolarOrbiter but samples particles, plasma & the solar wind – it doesn’t image the Sun’s surface, only snapping images looking away, while #SolarOrbiter peers forward – the 2 complement each other esa.int/Enabling_Suppo…
3/19 At its closest to the Sun, @ESASolarOrbiter must withstand sunshine 13 times more intense than Earth orbit. Imagine having to stand out under a cloudless sky filled with 13 separate Suns – the trick is to bring a sunshade with you #SolarOrbiter esa.int/Enabling_Suppo…
4/19 So @ESASolarOrbiter has taken shape as a largely ‘normal’ spacecraft, because it can take shelter behind an extremely powerful multi-layered heat shield, designed by @Thales_Alenia_S in Italy #SolarOrbiter esa.int/Enabling_Suppo…
