Session
Technical Session I: Existing Missions
Abstract
The SCISAT-1 Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) Mission is a part of the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA’s) space science program, to support ongoing research in the areas of solarterrestrial relations, atmospheric sciences and space astronomy. Bristol Aerospace Limited is the CSA’s Spacecraft Prime Contractor for the ACE Mission. The ACE spacecraft will be launched on a Pegasus XL vehicle in mid-2002, co-manifested with a NASA spacecraft. A Control and Data Handling (C&DH) Unit is being developed by Bristol for the ACE Mission. This C&DH Unit will be responsible for all onboard command, control, monitoring and science data recording. This unit is being developed to support a range of Canadian small science missions, from Smallsats to Microsats. The unit is low power and light weight, and features a rad-tolerant core to assure reliable operation in a single string architecture. The C&DH Unit is comprised of a Controller Card (CC), Data Handling Card (DHC), Input/Output Card (IOC) and a Power Supply Card (PSC). Each card is housed in its own aluminum frame, and the frames are integrated into a vertical stack. The unit is expected to operate with 7 Watts orbit average power and uses a UTMC 80C196 16-bit processor running at 16 MHz to manage the satellite operations and perform attitude control. Mass storage of 1.5 Gbytes and CCSDS variable-rate telemetry up to 5 Mbits/sec are provided. This paper will present an overview of the ACE Mission and a description of the C&DH Unit, describing its architecture, hardware/software partitioning, FPGA functionality and key performance specifications.
SCISAT-1 ACE Mission C&DH Unit Development
The SCISAT-1 Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) Mission is a part of the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA’s) space science program, to support ongoing research in the areas of solarterrestrial relations, atmospheric sciences and space astronomy. Bristol Aerospace Limited is the CSA’s Spacecraft Prime Contractor for the ACE Mission. The ACE spacecraft will be launched on a Pegasus XL vehicle in mid-2002, co-manifested with a NASA spacecraft. A Control and Data Handling (C&DH) Unit is being developed by Bristol for the ACE Mission. This C&DH Unit will be responsible for all onboard command, control, monitoring and science data recording. This unit is being developed to support a range of Canadian small science missions, from Smallsats to Microsats. The unit is low power and light weight, and features a rad-tolerant core to assure reliable operation in a single string architecture. The C&DH Unit is comprised of a Controller Card (CC), Data Handling Card (DHC), Input/Output Card (IOC) and a Power Supply Card (PSC). Each card is housed in its own aluminum frame, and the frames are integrated into a vertical stack. The unit is expected to operate with 7 Watts orbit average power and uses a UTMC 80C196 16-bit processor running at 16 MHz to manage the satellite operations and perform attitude control. Mass storage of 1.5 Gbytes and CCSDS variable-rate telemetry up to 5 Mbits/sec are provided. This paper will present an overview of the ACE Mission and a description of the C&DH Unit, describing its architecture, hardware/software partitioning, FPGA functionality and key performance specifications.
