Aquarius/SAC-D Outside Environmental Test Chamber

Description: The Aquarius/SAC-D satellite observatory was environmentally tested at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), Brazil's National Institute for Space Research in Sao Jose dos Campos. The environmental tests were conducted between June 2010 and March 2011, just prior to shipment of the observatory to Vandenberg Air Force Base (Calif.) where it was launched on June 10, 2011. Credit: NASA.