Ahead of its launch on 20 November 2013, Gaia has

passed its critical sunshield deployment test. The sunshield

has been fabricated by the Spanish company SENER. During the

test at Europe's spaceport in Kourou the shield's twelve carbon

fibre folding frames were opened successfully in the cleanroom.

As the Deployable Sunshield assembly (DSA) was not designed to

support its own weight in the one-g environment at Earth's

surface, support cables and counterweights attached to the

shield provided a realistic test environment. In space the 10.5

metre diameter sunshield will shade the spacecraft's telescope

from the sun. It will also help to provide a stable and low

temperature environment.