Initial Results from the TechnoSat in-Orbit Demonstration Mission

Until now, Technische Universität Berlin successfully developed, built and operated sixteen satellites ranging from several single unit CubeSats to a 56 kg Earth observation mission. The recently launched TechnoSat mission has the primary objective to demonstrate and test novel small satellite technologies and components in Low Earth Orbit. To this end, the 20 kg spacecraft carries seven payloads. One payload, for example, is the fluid-dynamic actuator developed by Technische Universität Berlin. This novel attitude actuator is based on momentum storage via a liquid metal that is accelerated using an electromagnetic pump. The secondary mission objective of TechnoSat is the in-orbit verification of the newly developed satellite platform TUBiX20 of Technische Universität Berlin. This platform bases on a modular systems design and provides scalability regarding selected performance parameters, which allows for tailoring of the platform towards individual mission requirements. TechnoSat was launched into a 600 km Sun-synchronous orbit on the 14th of July 2017. Since then, experiments are successfully conducted regularly with all payloads and the analysis of the collected data is in progress. This paper presents first orbit results of the TechnoSat mission focusing on selected technology demonstration payload

Flight Demonstration of Non-Cooperative Rendezvous using Optical Navigation

The ultimate goal of this work is to demonstrate the capability of a maneuverable servicer spacecraft to rendezvous with a non-cooperative space resident object from far-range distance using optical angles-only measurements. To this end, the Advanced Rendezvous experiment using GPS and Optical Navigation (ARGON) has been executed during the extended phase of the PRISMA formation-flying mission in April 2012. This paper addresses the experiment design, the developed flight dynamics system, the obtained flight results, and the lessons learned. Furthermore the evaluation of the rendezvous tracking, navigation and control accuracy is performed by means of GPS-based precise relative orbit determination products. The presented results give a clear demonstration of the high readiness level reached by key technologies which are needed by future on-orbit servicing and debris-removal missions

Initial Results from the TechnoSat In-Orbit Demonstration Mission

Until now, Technische Universität Berlin successfully developed, built and operated sixteen satellites ranging from several single unit CubeSats to a 56 kg Earth observation mission. The recently launched TechnoSat mission has the primary objective to demonstrate and test novel small satellite technologies and components in Low Earth Orbit. To this end, the 20 kg spacecraft carries seven payloads. One payload, for example, is the fluid-dynamic actuator developed by Technische Universität Berlin. This novel attitude control actuator is based on momentum storage via a liquid metal that is accelerated using an electromagnetic pump. The secondary mission objective of TechnoSat is the in-orbit verification of the newly developed satellite platform TUBiX20 of Technische Universität Berlin. This platform bases on a modular systems design and provides scalability regarding selected performance parameters, which allows for tailoring of the platform towards individual mission requirements. TechnoSat was launched into a 600 km Sun-synchronous orbit on the 14th of July, 2017. Since then, experiments are successfully conducted regularly with all payloads and the analysis of the collected data is in progress. This paper presents first orbit results of the TechnoSat mission focusing on selected technology demonstration payloads

Five Years of SMARTnet: Data, Processing, and Improvements.

SMARTnet, operated by the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern (AIUB) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), went online and became open to the public in 2017 with two telescope stations located in Zimmerwald, Switzerland, and Sutherland, South Africa. Over its five-year operational timespan, new Partners have joined while one Partner left, leaving telescope stations distributed today over Australia, South Africa, and Europe. All stations combined, 10 passive-optical telescopes are actively providing data to the network. New contributors are currently in the applicant phase and will, together with further stations planned by DLR, enhance the network’s capabilities. The retrieved data are used for research, collision warnings, catalogue maintenance, or for deriving data products, which can be sold to third parties. For the aforementioned points, the Backbone Catalogue of Relational Debris Information (BACARDI) was developed at DLR. BACARDI processes input data received from SMARTnet to data products such as ephemerides or orbit information for telescope observation planning, and attempts to detect new objects where an association of observations to already known objects is unsuccessful. To better operate the telescope stations, a dedicated software, called SMARTies, is under development as a joint project by AIUB and DLR. With this software, the telescope stations operations can be optimised to increase the daily data acquisition. It is planned to release SMARTies as Open Source software. To avoid deteriorating accuracy of the orbital information, ephemerides forecasted by BACARDI are combined with the planning tool “Optimal Catalog Maintenance and Survey Tasking” (OMST), which will help to keep all resident space objects in the data base. Furthermore, OMST will allow to search for new objects in the vicinity of the telescopes’ fields of view in so-called “dead-times”