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Airbus Tests GRACE-FO Antenna Boom

While the two spacecraft of the GRACE-FO mission go through testing at the IABG facitilty in Germany, engineers deploy the S-Band antenna boom to ensure that it works.

The antenna will be used to transmit data from the spacecraft to ground stations. The antenna also contains an inner magnetometer that is part of GRACE-FO's Attitude and Orbit Control Subsystem. Used with the Coarse Earth Sun Sensor, the magnetometer can be used to calculate Earth's magnetic field for for any spacecraft attitude correction.

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Airbus

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