PRESS RELEASE

Succesful deployment of SENER’s sunshield in the Gaia satellite

Madrid, December 19, 2013 – The Gaia scientific mission of the has been launched today at 10:12h (Spanish time) into Space from the Kourou Space Center. One hour and a half after the launch, the sunshield that protects the satellite from the solar radiation has deployed successfully. This structure has been designed, integrated and verified by the engineering and technology group SENER, that has also been responsible of the M2M device which allows the telescopes to focus and includes a precision mechanism and its associated electronic circuitry.

The sunshield has deployed in only 9 minutes and will stay like that during the whole mission. In these moments the satellite travels to the L2 point, located 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, from where it will carry out its observations. It will take around four weeks to arrive there and another three months – a period in which Gaia will be adjusting its instruments – to start sending to the Earth the first scientific data. These data will be analyzed by the Scientific Community that expects to publish the first results in two years.

According to SENER’s Space Director, Diego Rodriguez, “The precise deployment of this structure of almost 11 meters was a real challenge that, once more, our engineers have been able to solve. Reliability is probably the best word to define SENER’s performance in mechanisms. After an impeccable launching, the satellite’s sunshield deployment announces a successful scientific mission. Congratulations to everyone.”

The sunshield is the spacecraft's largest component, with 125 kg weight and 10,4 meters in diameter. This device has no technological precedents; never before has a synchronously deployable thermal shield of this size been built for a spacecraft. It has been designed to provide a low temperature environment for the satellite's instruments and ensure the thermal stability of the optical components, in order to guarantee precise focusing of the telescopes. To ensure its performance, the surface of the sunshield must be fully tensed when deployed; any wrinkles or imperfections can result in a difference in the thermal gradient for a given area of the satellite. Besides, a series of solar panels placed on the Sun-side of the satellite provide Gaia with electricity.

SENER has also developed the positioning subsystem for the telescopes' secondary mirrors, known as M2M. This device connects the reflecting mirror to the optical bench and contains both the M2MM and the electronic unit, known as MDE. The M2MM is one of the most critical precision mechanisms as it corrects any misalignments in the telescope, especially those that may occur after launch. This adjustment is performed automatically by way of an on-board computer.

During five years, Gaia scientific mission will observe and catalog a billion stars, 1% of those populating the Milky Way, through its two telescopes and their corresponding instruments. This mission represents a qualitative leap forward in the field of astrophysics, as it will allow scientists to draw a 3D map of our galaxy at an unprecedented level of accuracy, providing valuable information for all the subfields of astronomy and cosmology.

With 45 years of experience, the technology group SENER has become an international benchmark company in Aerospace, among other fields of activity. The company is distinguished by its ongoing encouragement for innovation and offers engineering and manufacturing services for the Space industry in three areas: mechatronics; guided, navigation and control (GNC) systems; and optical systems. Today, the company is a global leader, with over 253 flight models delivered for 59 satellites or Space vehicles to date for the Space agencies of the US (NASA), Europe (ESA),

More information: Oihana Casas. Communication Office. SENER Tel. (+34) 91 807 73 18 / (+34) 679 31 40 85 www.sener.es

(JAXA) and Russia (Roscosmos), all without a single recorded failure. Besides, SENER has succeed in achieving a progressive increase in the level of responsibility, thus dealing with more and more complex systems and being awarded contracts of increasingly greater value.

About SENER SENER is a private engineering and technology group founded in 1956, which seeks to offer its clients the most advanced technological solutions and which enjoys international recognition, thanks to its independence and its commitment to innovation and quality. SENER has a workforce of nearly 5,500 professionals working in its offices in , , , , Chile, China, Colombia, , , the United States, , Japan, , , and the United Kingdom. The Group has a turnover of €1.175 billion (2012 data).

SENER engages in the specific activities of Engineering and , and also has industrial holdings in companies involved in Energy and Environment, as well as in Aeronautics. In Engineering and Construction, SENER has become a world leader in the Aerospace, Infrastructure and Transport, Power and Processes, and Marine Engineering sectors.

In the Space sector, SENER develops components and systems for the flight segment in three areas: precision mechanisms, optical payloads and GNC systems.

• In the area of precision mechanisms, SENER has developed projects such as complete system of medium- and high-gain antennas for the BepiColombo satellite, the antenna subsystem for the Solar Orbiter scientific satellite, the high-gain pointing mechanism for the Mars Science Laboratory, the deployable sunshield and the M2M secondary mirror positioning mechanism for the Gaia mission, as well as the scan, calibration and shutter mechanisms for Meteosat Third Generation (MTG).

• In the area of optical payloads, the group has carried out projects such as the ultraviolet camera for the World Space Observatory Satellite, a collaborative project between Spain and Russia in which SENER is responsible for delivering the complete camera for its subsequent integration into the satellite, or the SEOSAT/Ingenio primary payload, a high performance-high resolution camera for Earth.

• Lastly, in Guidance, Navigation and Control Systems (GNC), SENER has an important portfolio of projects, such as the Herschel and Planck Attitude and Orbit Control System (AOCS), for which SENER has been a first level contractor, the development, integration and supply of testing equipment for the MTG AOCS SCOE subsystem, and the Proba 3 project, where it is responsible for the complete mission as the principal contractor.

Along with the above areas, SENER also carries out work on instrumentation for microgravity, life support systems and payload electronics, for applications such as the European Space Agency's MARES, MELISSA and LISA Technology Package projects.

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More information: Oihana Casas. Communication Office. SENER Tel. (+34) 91 807 73 18 / (+34) 679 31 40 85 www.sener.es