ICON Payload Interface Plate (PIP)

The instruments are all mounted on the Payload Interface Plate, or PIP. It provides a single structural interface to the spacecraft bus (main body of the satellite) through three bipod legs. The Interface Control Board, or ICP, provides a common source of control over the instruments' power, heaters, detector modes and all mechanical operations. 

The PIP mates to the Spacecraft, and provides a mounting area for ICON's two Star Trackers, for continuous determination of the observatory attitude, a Three-Axis Magnetometer, which also is used for attitude determination, and the S-band antenna providing a bi-directional communication path to the ICON ground network.