Yogi's 1/48 Planck spacecraft (Beta)

**jparenti** · #1 03-09-2011, 01:32 AM

What's Herschel without Planck?
Launched together on the same Ariane 5 in 2009, Planck was intended to study the cosmic microwave background radiation in high resolution, as a compliment to the data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (also available as a card model by Yogi, BTW).
This is the second build for me, the most recent update so far. We start with the thermal shield parts.

The three shields stack up nicely on the strut assembly. Just be careful to use a very sharp blade when cutting the slits, so that they are easy to fit but hold tightly on their own. Glue the parts, of course, but they should stay in place on their own when cut right.

The frame for the upper assembly is attached to the struts, and the shield assembly is ready to be attached to the bus.

**jparenti** · #2 03-09-2011, 03:03 AM

ESA video showing a cutaway graphic of Planck, and build up of the probe from its components. (That animation is a lot faster than me...)

**jparenti** · #3 03-09-2011, 04:50 AM

Forgot the last photo -- hex frame attached to shield struts.

The bus is a simple octagonal box, with a disc including the solar array attached at the bottom.

Brackets between bottom disc and bus are attached next -- there are 16, two on each face.

I went ahead and attached the shield assembly to the bus.

Next up: the telescope and shroud assembly.

**SAustin16** · #4 03-11-2011, 12:11 PM

Very cool build of a very cool design. Fun to watch.

**Paper Kosmonaut** · #5 03-11-2011, 12:35 PM

Oh I really get an itch - I want to make this pair of probes very much. It's weird, as, like I said, I consider myself kind of focused in manned space exploration but these kind of probes / Lagrange point satellites are so interesting and so fascinating.
I can't wait to get my hands on them. Perhaps - especially after Voyager a while ago - I have to "reconsider" my interests and state them as I'm into manned space and deep space probes.

Joseph, your build is inspiring. Nice pics of things to come. Yogi, I might be able to build things in a small scale but I wish I had a tiny fragment of your designing skills.

**jparenti** · #6 03-12-2011, 06:40 AM

Thanks for the kind words guys. Hopefully I can get the rest of it built by tomorrow. My full-time job has truly become full-time, and my hobby appears to be a weekend thing again, sadly. :D
On a more positive note, this is only one of three projects I'm in the middle of. Thorsten Brand has kindly helped me finish my Pathfinder model, and I am writing instructions for it now. I am also finishing up CONTOUR, which has been on the shelf for way too long already. (Luckily, work doesn't impact my designing -- I can do both at once...)
Hopefully, this and my other projects will be done this weekend. Stay tuned...

**Retired_for_now** · #7 03-17-2011, 09:35 PM

Just an overall update - release pending. Had a note back from the ESA education folks so sent them copies of Herschel and Planck. If they're happy, they'll host (I'll give them a couple of weeks to decide). If not, I'll ask jleslie to help out at Lower Hudson Valley (and likely post here for you "insiders").

Yogi (sometimes it just takes a while)