Integration of Planck's two instruments
Thu Nov 23, 2006 at 16:47 UTC
On Monday 20 November, the focal plane units of the two Planck instruments HFI and LFI were integrated into a single assembly. The High Frequency Instrument (HFI) focal plane unit was inserted into the dedicated opening in the centre of the Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) focal plane unit.
At this time, the HFI was already assembled with its cryogenic cooling pipework in a dedicated support structure, whilst the LFI focal plane unit was already connected to the back end electronics by a set of waveguides. In this complicated configuration, the two instruments were integrated into a single assembly.
The complex integration was conducted by a team of four engineers of AAS-I (former Laben). It took about four hours to perform the integration, during which the two instruments were at many instances as close as 1millimetre from each other at different locations. The descent of HFI into LFI was precisely controlled to the millimetre to prevent any contact between the two instruments. The successful integration now gives way to the mating and alignment of the combined HFI/LFI instruments with the Planck telescope integrated on the flight model spacecraft.
Image Credit: Alcatel Alenia Space
Top view of the focal plane assemblies of the two Planck instruments HFI and LFI during integration, with the focal plane box facing down.
Image Credit: ESA/AOES Medialab
This image shows an artist's impression of the front of the focal plane with the instruments' feedhorns also in place. The focal plane box (light coloured box in the above picture) is made transparant in the artist's impression.
Image Credit: Alcatel Alenia Space
Side view of the HFI and LFI instruments after they have been integrated. The surrounding frame forms a dedicated support structure. The focal plane box is at the front facing down.
ESA Science & Technology News Release
