Finavicomp has delivered the first X-Ray Multi-Mirror satellite telescope tube to Dornier Satellite Systeme. The Finnish firm - the manufacturing arm of Finavitec - is building two tubes. The first is to be used for test purposes and as a spare, while the second will be used for the actual flight. The contract is valued at about FIM40 million ($7.8 million). The conical tube, designed by Finavicomp's own space unit, is some 7m long with a diameter varying from 2.2m to 1.6m. The tube weighs 158kg of a total spacecraft mass of 3.9t and is one of the largest composite structures manufactured for a European Space Agency programme. The satellite, part of the ESA Horizon 2000 programme, is scheduled to be launched in 1999 by an Ariane 5, primarily for the study of X-ray sources deep in the universe. Finavitec, formerly known as Valmet Aviation Industries, employs some 350 people on programmes including strucutures for the Saab 2000 turboprop, the McDonnell Douglas F-18 fighter and MD80/90 airliners and the Ericsson EriEye airborne early-warning system.
Source: Flight International