Hera is a European Space Agency Planetary Defense mission and part of the Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment (AIDA). AIDA is an international collaboration among scientists from Hera (ESA) and DART (Impact on 26 of September 2022) teams to demonstrate a deflection of a binary asteroid, Didymos. The mission will perform proximity observations of the outcome, while demonstrating technologies for future missions and addressing planetary defense. Hera will be launched in October 2024 and will arrive at Didymos in October/November 2026. The manuscript presents an overview of the Assembly, Integration and Verification of the Interplanetary Cubesats (Milani and Juventas which are the first ESA Deep Space Cubesats) and the Deep Space Deployer, being this the first time that such a detailed and comprehensive AIT campaign has been performed for CubeSat companions. The manuscript and presentation will be focused on the System level tests executed together with the Hera PFM, including: Cubesats inside Hera during PFM vibration, and Thermal Vacuum Cycling. Cubesats PFM on Electromagnetic Characterization Testing with Hera PFM, on ESA Maxwell anechoic chamber. ISL Testing with Hera PFM and Cubesats PFMs. Software and interface functional Tests inside Hera PFM and within the Hera OHB Avionics Test Bench environment. Hot deployment tests and CubeSat integration on the Hera PFM and Launch site activities planned for October 2024. The manuscript provides an overview of the proposed solutions for System Level testing and verification with the main Hera platform, covering all different mission phases and environmental scenarios.


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    Title :

    AIT and system level verification for ESA interplanetary CubeSats (Juventas and Milani): ready to piggyback on the ESA Hera mission


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    Small Satellites Systems and Services Symposium (4S 2024) ; 2024 ; Palma de Mallorca, Spain


    Published in:

    Proc. SPIE ; 13546


    Publication date :

    2025-03-20





    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



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