by Playfuls Staff |
15th December 2006
The European Space Agency says its Jules Verne spacecraft has completed 21 days of simulated space vacuum, sub-zero [more] temperatures and solar radiation.
Not only did the craft survive the simulated space environment conditions but its flight software and hardware were also successfully tested, the ESA said.
The Jules Verne -- most complex spacecraft ever developed in Europe -- is to make its inaugural flight atop an Ariane 5 rocket next summer to resupply the International Space Station.
The ESA said the tests were the equivalent of placing a laptop computer into a freezer, then exposing it to extreme heat and returning it to the freezer, all while it is in continuous use.
The 22-ton spacecraft, the size of a double-decker bus, holds dozens of powerful computers holding 1 million lines of code.
ESA scientists will analyze about 50 gigabytes of test data that were stored during the 270 hours of functional testing to make sure any minor anomalies that occurred are fully understood.
© 2006 UPI
