The finishing touches are being made to the protective heat shield of Schiaparelli before it is joined to the Trace Gas Orbiter. A team of specialists from Airbus Defence and Space (Aquitaine), who arrived in Baikonur last week, have been busy this week placing and sealing the last of the tiles on Schiaparelli’s heat shield and rear cover.
In October this year, as it plummets through the Martian atmosphere towards the surface, Schiaparelli – the ExoMars 2016 entry, descent and landing demonstrator module – will experience very high temperatures, possibly as high as 1850°C. (…)
This week, as the final launch preparation activities for Schiaparelli draw to a close, it was time to place most of the remaining tiles and bond them into position. The final three tiles will be placed after the installation of Schiaparelli on top of the Trace Gas Orbiter. (…) This was the last task to be carried out on Schiaparelli before it is united with the Trace Gas Orbiter to form what is known as the Spacecraft Composite. [More at link]