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Solar Array Deployment Testing

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Members of APL's STEREO team deploy a solar array that will eventually be placed on one of the twin STEREO spacecraft to verify it will open properly after launch.

Inside the launch vehicle the arrays will be folded so the observatories will fit inside. After the observatories are separated from the launch vehicle in space, the arrays unfold and each spacecraft then measures more than 21 feet across.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory