Images

Solar Blanket Template

Download Hi-Res Image

Solar blankets are one of the last items placed on a spacecraft prior to launch. They help protect a spacecraft and its sensitive electronics and scientific instruments from the harsh environment of space.

Heaters are placed inside both STEREO spacecraft to keep them warm in the space environment where they'll be operating. Solar blankets keep the heat inside each observatory.

In this picture a technician has hung a solar blanket template on one of the observatory's panels used to make a perfect fit before the flight blankets are fabricated.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory