Image: Ready for collection – lightsabres for Mars

Video: 00:00:57

ESA’s Hera asteroid mission for planetary defence seen with one of its two solar wings added, during its continuing test campaign at the ESTEC Test Centre in the Nethelands.

The van-sized spacecraft, left, is powered by a pair of solar array wings, made up of three panels each, provided by Beyond Gravity in Switzerland.

One of these 5-m-long wings was added for Hera’s ‘cold deployment check’ – a manual unfolding process to confirm that the wing fits correctly. Because the solar wings have been designed to operate in weightlessness they were supported by a frame during this test

Image: Hera takes wing

Spain’s trio of ANSER CubeSats, due to fly on Europe’s next Vega launcher, will fly like a flock of birds in orbit – in more ways than one. Keeping in formation by following their leader, the three shoebox-sized satellite will image Iberian waters as if they are a single standard-sized mission. And they will unfurl wing-like flaps to maintain their relative positions, surfing on the scanty airflow at the top of Earth’s atmosphere.

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