The new SCOS-based EGSE of the EPIC flight-spare on-ground cameras

After almost 15 years since its launch, the instruments on-board the XMM-Newton observatory continue to operate smoothly. However, since the mission was originally planned for 10 years, progressive ageing and/or failures of the on-board instruments can be expected. Dealing with them could require substantial changes in the operating software and the command & telemetry database, which shall be tested with the on-ground flight-spare cameras. To this aim, the original Electrical Ground Support Equipment has been replaced with a new one based on SCOS2000, the same tool used by ESA for controlling the spacecraft. This was a demanding task, since it required both the recovery of the specialised knowledge regarding the original EGSE and need to adapt SCOS for a special use. Very recently this work has been completed by fully replacing the EGSE of one of the two cameras, which is now ready to be used by ESA. Here we describe the scope and purpose of this activity, the problems faced during its execution and the adopted solutions, and the tests performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new EGSE.