Engineers operating the Large Space Simulator
The Large Space Simulator (LSS), located at ESA’s Test Centre in the Netherlands, is Europe’s largest vacuum chamber. It is used for the testing of spacecraft in a space-like environment, including vacuum and extreme temperatures, before they fly into orbit.
The facility is complex, and the current process of training a new operator is lengthy and complicated. To make it easier, the space simulator now has a digital twin – the most realistic virtual model of the facility yet, developed for the European Space Agency (ESA) by the Spanish engineering company Empresarios Agrupados.
[Image description: This is a photo of a control room. Two men are seated next to each other at a long desk, each typing on a keyboard and looking at computer monitors in front of them. Their desk is equipped with multiple monitors displaying system interfaces. Bright fluorescent lights attached to the ceiling illuminate the room, while the walls are lined with additional control panels and display screens.]
The Large Space Simulator digital twin
Diagram of the Large Space Simulator
The cavernous chamber of the Large Space Simulator
GOCE ready for testing in the Large Space Simulator
