HIGH GAIN ANTENNA/SOLAR ARRAY DEPLOY

Narration: Jason Hair, Deployable Systems Lead

Transcript:
The Solar Dynamics Observatory has two high gain antenna deployment systems. We are testing this system today to make sure that it will deploy properly once it reaches space. We use a counter-balance system, which you can see in the lower right, to off-load the sense of gravity so we can properly simulate the deployment here on the ground. We monitor this deployment using electronics and computer systems to make sure the deployment performs as we expected. In this case we had a very successful deployment and we are now going with the confidence it will work properly when we reach orbit. As you can on the antenna system we have blanketing that protects it from the sun, and also a composite antenna that helps maintain minimum weight and optimum performance. We also test the solar deployment system in a similar manner using counter balances. In this case, we're using a non-flight panel to help us with this test. The large bang you hear, unfortunately, won't be heard in space, but makes for an exciting test on the ground. Now this is a test panel, as I mentioned, but we will be receiving the flight panel shortly and performing the test again with that flight panel.