Leonardo has successfully closed Milestone n°22 of Work Package 5, “Microwave Source Functional Verification Presentation & Delivery”. The milestone was achieved through the successful closure of the TRB/DRB for the Microwave Source (MWS) module marking a key step in the verification process of the subsystem.

Leonardo finalised the acceptance tests in a laboratory environment, validating the electrical functionalities of the Microwave Source Engineering Model (EM). The MWS represents the core unit of the gravimeter instrument’s timing chain. This critical subsystem provides both the clock reference and the high-frequency signals to the PP (Physics Package) and LS (Laser System) subsystems, while meeting extremely demanding performance requirements in terms of phase noise and long-term stability.

With this achievement, Leonardo confirms the attainment of Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5 for the Microwave Source unit.

Picture of the CARIOQA PMP partners with the test setup used to perform the test of MWS EM s/n 01

Following the successful completion of the tests, the EM MWS unit was delivered to CNES in Toulouse, where it will be used for upcoming system integration activities at the CNES Optical Laboratory. The delivery was attended by representatives from Airbus, responsible for the AIV (Assembly, Integration and Verification) activities, and CNES, as project leads, together with Leonardo’s technical manager responsible for the MWS unit.

This milestone represents the first step of the integration phase aimed at verifying the overall performance of the gravimeter system. It also constitutes a significant achievement in terms of hardware feasibility, as reference and frequency-multiplication units capable of meeting such stringent performance requirements are not currently available on the space market.

For Leonardo, this result concludes the main activities of the PMP phase and paves the way for Phase B of the programme, which has been underway since October 2025 and is expected to conclude in the second half of 2027.

This achievement underlines Leonardo’s continued commitment to advancing high-performance space technologies within the CARIOQA programme.