AEROSPACE & DEFENSE

Solar Orbiter Mission, discovering the secrets of the Solar System

Ecor Research collaborates to a European Space Agency project, performing heat treatments of the satellite shield that will study unexplored areas of the Space

A space mission will reveal the hidden secrets of the Universe and Ecor Research will be proudly part of it. Indeed, the company has been collaborating to an important project of the European Space Agency, the Solar Orbiter Mission that will enable the study of the planets development, the origin of the Universe and the Solar System functioning.

The mission is included in the “Cosmic Vision Programme” and aims at investigating in unprecedented details the way in which the Sun creates and controls the heliosphere.
Thanks to the work of a satellite dedicated to the close observation of the Sun, it will be possible to study unexplored regions of the Solar System.

The Ecor Research engineering team is involved in the project for developing the Solar Orbiter Heat Shield (SOHS), the heat shield of the satellite that protects it from the sun’s rays.
In this shield, indeed, have been installed powerful telescopes in charge of collecting information and images of the sun that should be shielded, as they cannot suffer a long exposition to the sun without being damaged.

In particular, the company is performing outgassing treatments of titanium foil of which the shield is composed of, which are carried out in the high vacuum furnace for dozens of hours at very high temperatures.
This kind of operations are essential for a suitable preparation of titanium foil, as they allow the elimination of surface impurities and stabilization of a black coating on the surface, which composition is secret.

To perform the treatment, Ecor Research designed and manufactured a support equipment for the foils, which allows their correct lie down position in the furnace, releasing the tensions due to the coating. The tests performed on foils treated from the company satisfied the requirements in terms of cleaning and resistance to radiations: after the test of the screen prototype in a specialized laboratory, at the end of the year will be performed heat treatments on the foils that will actually be used in the space.


TO KNOW

ESA is an international organisation with 20 Member States.
By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, it can invest in research programmes in the aerospace sector.
It was founded in 1975.