Keywords
Citation
(2006), "Nexans on board Venus Express", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 78 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2006.12778bad.005
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Nexans on board Venus Express
Equipment
Nexans on board Venus Express
Keywords: Spacecraft
Nexans, a major company in the cable industry, has supplied the whole electric harness on board the Venus Express spacecraft, which was launched on November 9 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. This project has been conducted by Nexans Harnesses, a Nexans company specialised in the design and manufacture of harnesses* based in Belgium, for EADS Astrium SAS (France).
During this project, which started in 2003, Nexans was contracted to design, manufacture and provide installation support for an electric harness consisting of 9,000 contact points and 500 connectors. The harness was built in Belgium and integration was completed at the Alcatel Alenia Space plant in Turin, Italy. Some last-minute adjustments were then made at Intespace in Toulouse, France.
Eric Leurquin, Aerospace and Defence Manager for Nexans Harnesses, said: “Venus Express was built using the same engineering design and work organisation as Mars Express. This enabled us to develop the programme faster and reduce the overall project cost. However, to allow for the mission's specific goals and for different planetary conditions, we have of course made some changes for Venus Express.”
As an expert of wiring in limited- space environments, Nexans provides electric harnesses meeting stringent requirements in terms of weight and durability. The harness was designed to withstand high stress during the critical launch phase, as well as extremely high or low temperatures while in orbit.
Venus Express is the first-ever spacecraft sent by the European Space Agency to probe Venus, the second planet out from the Sun. The Venus Express mission aims at exploring Venus' atmosphere and clouds and mapping surface temperatures.
Also known as the “Morning Star” or “Evening Star”, Venus is the closest planet to the Earth and it is regarded as its sister planet because of their similar size and weight. Any spacecraft designed to probe Venus must, therefore, be adapted to the most extreme conditions.