DORA telescope project: preliminary characterization of the deployment mechanism

The critical conditions in a space mission depend on the task a spacecraft has to perform but generally it is the launch. Concerning mechanisms, the crucial moment is their actuation since the resting from their integration and the vibration during launch and eventual landing may have causeda degradation of the components. It is mandatory to intensivelytest the actuators to investigate any problem in the selection or the incompatibility with the system in which they have to be integrated. The DORA project aims at validating a deploymentmechanism featuring four linear actuators which shall move thesecondary mirror from a stowed position to the operational. The preliminary testing of the actuators to verify the compliance is presented and the measurement of the actuation force is directlycarried out on the DORA mockup to evaluate compatibility with the developed models of the deployment mechanism.