Session
Technical Session XII: Year in Review
Abstract
The PROBA-V satellite, built by QinetiQ Space (Belgium), was launched on May 7th 2013. It is a small ESA satellite tasked with a full-scale mission: to map land cover and vegetation growth across the entire planet on an daily basis (+90% per day). It is the third satellite in the PROBA series, after PROBA-1 (launched on 22/10/2001) and PROBA-2 (launched on 2/11/2009), which are both still in nominal operations. The PROBA satellites are part of ESA’s In-orbit Technology Demonstration Programme, which handles missions dedicated to the demonstration of innovative technologies. PROBA stands for PRoject for OnBoard Autonomy. From the very first design phases, upto the in-orbit operations, everything is oriented to achieve a maximum autonomy for the mission. This includes fully autonomous platform and payload operations, requiring only limited inputs from ground. Apart from onboard autonomy, this also includes a fully automated flight operations segment, where satellite contacts are usually executed unattended and scientific requests are passing through transparently without the need for operator presence. With three satellites in orbit, the realisation of onboard and onground autonomy has lead QinetiQ Space (as prime of an industrial consortia) to be recognized as key reference in satellite autonomy. For its next generation, the PROBANEXT platform will keep focusing on maximum autonomy as a tool to ensure an optimised design, a cost-efficient design and development process and extremely low cost operations.
Presentation
PROBA-V: The example of onboard and onground autonomy
The PROBA-V satellite, built by QinetiQ Space (Belgium), was launched on May 7th 2013. It is a small ESA satellite tasked with a full-scale mission: to map land cover and vegetation growth across the entire planet on an daily basis (+90% per day). It is the third satellite in the PROBA series, after PROBA-1 (launched on 22/10/2001) and PROBA-2 (launched on 2/11/2009), which are both still in nominal operations. The PROBA satellites are part of ESA’s In-orbit Technology Demonstration Programme, which handles missions dedicated to the demonstration of innovative technologies. PROBA stands for PRoject for OnBoard Autonomy. From the very first design phases, upto the in-orbit operations, everything is oriented to achieve a maximum autonomy for the mission. This includes fully autonomous platform and payload operations, requiring only limited inputs from ground. Apart from onboard autonomy, this also includes a fully automated flight operations segment, where satellite contacts are usually executed unattended and scientific requests are passing through transparently without the need for operator presence. With three satellites in orbit, the realisation of onboard and onground autonomy has lead QinetiQ Space (as prime of an industrial consortia) to be recognized as key reference in satellite autonomy. For its next generation, the PROBANEXT platform will keep focusing on maximum autonomy as a tool to ensure an optimised design, a cost-efficient design and development process and extremely low cost operations.
