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The first image from the BBC's Euclid space telescope to study 'dark Universe' makes progress reminded me of the second two, which are taken from What are these air-vent-like structures on this satellite?.

Question: What are those tilting/rotating platforms called that (usually but not always†) securely hold spacecraft during assembly, testing, and sometimes transport?

†Was the NOAA-N Prime satellite really dropped on the floor?

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    $\begingroup$ This question asks what the name of the stands are space.stackexchange.com/q/34040/6944 but that's not the sole focus of the question. Possible duplicate. $\endgroup$
    – Organic Marble
    Commented Sep 21, 2019 at 12:07
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    $\begingroup$ "positioner" eh, well that's anticlimactic. Okay how about we let this question go around the Earth once, and if a better, more cool and technical-sounding official name can't be found and sourced, then we'll close this as duplicate. Thanks! $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Sep 21, 2019 at 12:15
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    $\begingroup$ @OrganicMarble actually I remember seeing a big communications satellite attached to one in a horizontal orientation inside it's shipping container. It's possible that combination (thus the "...and sometimes transport?") has a different name. $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Sep 21, 2019 at 12:25
  • $\begingroup$ Sometimes it's just a plain old scaffold space.stackexchange.com/q/38900/6944 $\endgroup$
    – Organic Marble
    Commented Sep 21, 2019 at 12:27

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The generic term seems to be "positioner", sometimes with adjectives like "trolley positioner"

(The) Aronson Trolley Positioner...was specially designed by NASA to assemble and “Float on Built-In Air Pads” a 2 billion dollar spacecraft that was launched in late December 1999

or "rotary positioner". Standard commercial items exist, but perhaps the ones used for satellite assembly are custom in some way.

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  • $\begingroup$ fyi I've just asked For which “2 billion dollar spacecraft launched in 1999” did NASA “specially design” an Aronson Trolley Positioner? $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Sep 22, 2019 at 22:59
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    $\begingroup$ This definitely appears now to be a duplicate of the other one. $\endgroup$
    – Organic Marble
    Commented Sep 22, 2019 at 23:36
  • $\begingroup$ @OrganicMarble In that case do you think it makes sense for BobJacobsen to move/add this answer there? $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Sep 23, 2019 at 1:17
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    $\begingroup$ Sure, there's some good additional info there. But closing as a duplicate doesn't make the answer or question go away, I'm pretty sure they can still be upvoted. It just annotates the top of the question. I am pretty sure stuff I've dupe-hammered on scifi stack exchange still gets votes. $\endgroup$
    – Organic Marble
    Commented Sep 23, 2019 at 1:21

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