Session
Session IV: The Past & Coming Years
Abstract
ISRO has launched series of satellites for Earth Imaging for natural resource applications. These applications are being served by various large satellites. Some of the payloads with required swaths & resolutions, which can serve the applications separately in the areas of agriculture, forestry, geology, water resources, land-use, infrastructure build-up, pollution monitoring etc., can be launched on small or micro satellites on stand-alone basis. With the experience of design, development, fabrication and on-orbit operation of earth imaging satellites from IRS-1A to Cartosat-1, the small/micro satellites are planned with advanced technology. The small satellite project is envisaged to provide platform for stand-alone payloads for earth imaging and science missions. The current paper focuses on the first satellite. The satellite is a three axis stabilized bus with two deployed solar panels. The bus carries a miniature dual head star sensor, four micro reaction wheels and micro gyros. The bus can operate in sun-pointing and earth pointing modes and provides good attitude pointing and stability. The details of mission, configuration, and the bus capability details are presented.
Micro Satellite Bus for Stand-alone Earth Imaging / Space Science Payloads
ISRO has launched series of satellites for Earth Imaging for natural resource applications. These applications are being served by various large satellites. Some of the payloads with required swaths & resolutions, which can serve the applications separately in the areas of agriculture, forestry, geology, water resources, land-use, infrastructure build-up, pollution monitoring etc., can be launched on small or micro satellites on stand-alone basis. With the experience of design, development, fabrication and on-orbit operation of earth imaging satellites from IRS-1A to Cartosat-1, the small/micro satellites are planned with advanced technology. The small satellite project is envisaged to provide platform for stand-alone payloads for earth imaging and science missions. The current paper focuses on the first satellite. The satellite is a three axis stabilized bus with two deployed solar panels. The bus carries a miniature dual head star sensor, four micro reaction wheels and micro gyros. The bus can operate in sun-pointing and earth pointing modes and provides good attitude pointing and stability. The details of mission, configuration, and the bus capability details are presented.
