Special platform for special mission

It is a spectacular mission: the Juice (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) space probe will spend almost four years exploring the Jupiter system with its three icy moons to determine whether there are potential habitats there. The European Space Agency (ESA) probe was developed and built by Airbus in recent years. It is currently being prepared for launch. But before that, the space probe underwent numerous tests at the Airbus satellite integration centers in Friedrichshafen and Toulouse. For this purpose, Item constructed a special staircase and platform system that provided a safe working platform for the employees and acted as a substructure for an approximately ten-metre-long measuring arm.

Special design for a sensitive measuring arm

On behalf of the ESA, Airbus has developed a space probe equipped with measuring instruments and sensors to explore the Jupiter system. Juice is primarily intended to investigate the oceans beneath the icy surface of Jupiter's moons using magnetic sensor systems. This is because the magnetic fields provide information about the inner structure of the celestial bodies. This is why the magnometer boom (Magboom) is an important component of the space probe. Five magnetically sensitive measuring instruments are attached to this measuring arm. It weighs a total of around 50 kilograms, is made of non-magnetic materials and can be folded out to a length of 10.6 meters. This ensures that the measurements taken are not influenced by the space probe. However, before the 6.2 ton space probe begins its journey to Jupiter next year, it must first undergo a test. In August 2021, Juice was therefore transported to the Airbus Satellite Integration Center in Toulouse for final assembly and testing. There, final tests were carried out on the satellite and the elaborately designed Magboom before its deployment in space.

Design optimally supports the measuring arm

To do this, Airbus needed a design that would enable engineers and technicians to carry out installation work and tests on the sensitive arm. The deployment arm is designed with maximum lightweight construction and dimensioned for an environment without the influence of earth's gravity. However, in order to be able to deploy it on earth for testing purposes, a special substructure was required to support the arm during deployment to prevent damage or kinking. This is where Item came into play. The pioneer in modular systems for industrial applications designed a special stairway/platform system in collaboration with Airbus. A construction was created that optimally supported the measuring arm so that it could be partially extended despite its impressive length. The profiles are particularly suitable for the project as they are made of aluminum and are therefore magnetically compatible with the space probe.

More than 4,000 individual parts for the work platform

Item supplied a total of six assemblies to Airbus. The result was a platform around 5,700 millimetres wide and 5,330 millimetres long with railings at a height of 1,300 millimetres, which can be reached via a staircase. It weighs around 2.8 tons and consists of more than 4,000 individual parts. The entire construction was to serve one main purpose: to simulate gravity-free conditions, as similar as possible to those in space, for the purpose of magboom deployment. The staircase and platform system was to be an optimal substructure for the Magboom and provide it with optimum support. In addition, a work surface had to be created that allowed the employees to carry out tests on the measuring arm without transferring oscillations or vibrations to the test object and the satellite. The standing surface of the employees therefore had to be completely mechanically decoupled from the substructure of the Magboom.