Thales Alenia Space Switzerland completes telescope for comet mission

(CONNECT) Thales Alenia Space Switzerland has completed the telescope for the Comet Interceptor mission of the European SpaceAgency (ESA ). Elisabetta Rugi Grond, CEO of Thales Alenia Space Switzerland, writes this in a post on LinkedIn. "We are proud to contribute our expertise and technology to this exciting and ambitious project and to drive forward space exploration and scientific discovery," says the head of Thales Alenia Space's Swiss site in Zurich. The aerospace technology group has its headquarters in Cannes, France. As Rugi Grond explains, the completed telescope has now been sent to the University of Bern.

Thales Alenia Space Schweiz AG specializes in high-performance optoelectronic space instruments for earth and planetary observation and laser communication. The company is part of the consortium that is manufacturing this telescope on behalf of ESA.

This consortium for the imaging system of the Comet Interceptor mission is led by the University of Bern. Its Department of Space Research and Planetology at the Institute of Physics has extensive experience in the development of instruments for space missions and is an important partner for organizations such as NASA and ESA. According to the university, Thales Alenia Space Switzerland was entrusted with protecting the optics of this comet camera from dust particles flying through the atmosphere at high speed by means of a rotating mirror assembly (RMA).

Comet Interceptor is an ESA mission planned for 2028. The aim is to study a comet as it passes by and enters the inner reaches of the solar system for the first time. The aim of the mission is to carry out multi-point observations to analyze the morphology, composition and plasma environment of such a relic from the early solar system untouched by solar radiation. According to Rugi Grond, this should provide "invaluable scientific data that could give us a new understanding of these mysterious objects". ce/mm