XMM takes its own photo

17 Jun 2002

Just less than five hours after liftoff, the XMM spacecraft sent back images of itself in space. The images were taken by two micro-cameras, made by OIP, subsidiary of Delft Sensor Systems, and IMEC, Belgium, on the outside of the spacecraft.

When the pictures were taken, XMM was at an altitude of 55 300 kilometres above the Earth's surface. The spacecraft's orientation meant that the cameras could not capture images of our planet.

Picture taken by XMM's FUGA camera showing the telescope tube and one solar array on the left. The edges of the now deployed telescope sunshield are at the top of the picture. What appears as a white boom in the centre is a side view of one of the fixed lateral sunshield panels.

Picture taken by XMM's IRIS camera showing the other solar array on the right. At the bottom of the photograph is the MLI thermal insulation just under the lens of the camera.

(photos courtesy of the European Space Agency)