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European spacecraft are put to the test

A LMS International product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Mar 7, 2003

ESA-ESTEC is currently integrating next-generation LMS test hardware and LMS vibration control and data-reduction software.

ESA-ESTEC is currently integrating next-generation LMS test hardware and LMS vibration control and data-reduction software.

To effectively qualify European spacecraft and their components, Europe's largest test centre will deploy LMS Test.Lab Environmental software and LMS Scadas III hardware, altogether adding up to 568 data acquisition channels.

LMS Test.Lab Environmental empowers highly accurate measurements to take place with relentless performance and maximum accuracy and safety.

The European Space research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), based in The Netherlands, is the largest entity of the European Space Agency (ESA) and houses the largest European space test centre for environmental test programmes.

Satellites and other space vehicles are positioned on a shaker or in an acoustic reverberation room to be subjected to very specific vibration or acoustic loads that they will experience during their real missions.

For example, a satellite's capacity to survive the roaring of the boosters during launch may be verified, or the shock resulting from deploying an antenna in space.

LMS systems to be delivered at ESTEC combine LMS Test.Lab Environmental software and LMS SCADAS III hardware.

The 40-channel vibration control system accurately controls specific load excitation schedules in real time and in closed-loop mode.

A central unit manages the overall test system while four stations, positioned as isles around the object under test, process all measurement data.

Each isle manages the data processing of a 128-channel LMS acquisition system, displays real-time measurement results and delivers printed test reports.

Easy-transportable data processing stations offer great test flexibility: they can be divided over multiple simultaneous test programs or participate in the same test program, the latter firmly reducing the risk of losing measurement data.

Filip Pintelon, Corporate Vice-President and General Manager Test Division at LMS, stated, "LMS is supplying the test solution that will form the core of vibration qualification tests ESTEC performs at their environmental test center.

The ESA-ESTEC decision to implement the LMS Test.Lab solution is another confirmation that the LMS offering is perfectly aligned with the specific challenges of mission-critical environmental test assignments".

Jan Debille, Product Manager Environmental Test Systems, added, "LMS Test.Lab will manage the excitation of the loads, the processing of the responding measurement signals and the delivery of timely reporting to all suppliers involved in satellite developments".

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