FLEX instrument mounted on its satellite

The development of ESA’s Earth Explorer FLEX mission has recently passed a significant milestone: the mission’s all-important, single instrument  has been joined to its satellite platform.

This delicate operation was carried out by spacecraft engineers at Thales Alenia Space in Cannes, France, following the delivery of the instrument from Leonardo in Florence, Italy.

FLEX’s fluorescence imaging spectrometer is called FLORIS for short and designed to map vegetation fluorescence around the globe and quantify photosynthetic activity and plant stress.

As prime contractor, Thales Alenia Space led the satellite platform assembly, integration and test campaign, which took place in Thales’ cleanroom in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Now that the platform and the FLORIS instrument have been integrated in Cannes, the next step is to carry out a final series of tests ahead of the launch scheduled in 2026.