Since March, Pléiades 1 has been undergoing tests at Intespace in Toulouse to simulate its launch environment and the conditions it will encounter in space.
A first series of tests simulated launch atop the Soyuz booster in spring 2010, subjecting the satellite to several levels of acceleration and measuring induced vibrations.
A second series involved day-night cycling and tested the satellite’s ability to withstand thermal and electromagnetic shocks.
Pléiades' telescope assembled
Pléiades 1’s main telescope was assembled in Cannes by Thales Alenia Space and delivered at the end of July 2008.
It was then mated with the satellite bus in Astrium’s clean room in Toulouse in September 2008.
For the next 6 months, the satellite underwent technical qualification tests to validate bus and instrument performance, and successfully completed satellite tasking and image collection tests.
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