Session
Weekday Session 8: Recent Launches
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
In December 2019, ANGELS, the first nanosatellite designed and developed by French industry, supported by the French Space Agency, CNES, was launched from Kourou. Development and qualification of the satellite were achieved in two and a half years: quite a challenge!
The ANGELS demonstration mission was set up as a co-funded partnership between CNES and Hemeria in order both to validate new technologies and to promote the “new space” approach. Thales Alenia Space & Syrlinks led the team in charge of the Argos Néo instrument payload. The data collected for two years now show that the chosen compromise was the right one. The satellite provides operational class performance at a fraction of the cost of previous versions of the Argos system.
The first technical challenge has been met: the size of the satellite is 22 cm x 22 cm x 35 cm, the weight is less than 20 kg although housing the Argos-Néo instrument. The latter is a demonstrator much smaller than its predecessors; it is also ten times lighter (1.5 kg) and requires three times less energy. Thanks to breakthrough technologies developed by Hemeria, Thales Alenia Space, Syrlinks and seven other industrial partners, ANGELS proved in orbit its new miniaturization design and its high capabilities.
Much beyond the original demonstration target, ANGELS with its Argos Néo instrument ensures an operational service to the Argos user community. It is now part of the existing Argos operational constellation whose Mission Center is operated by Kinéis. It collects Argos beacon messages used for environmental monitoring and wildlife tracking.
Management, design, development and validation, use of miniaturized commercial components, smart risk strategy to reduce costs and lead times, operational concept... almost everything was revisited through ANGELS. To carry out this mission, CNES and Hemeria jointly worked as a single team collocated at Hemeria Toulouse facilities. Twenty-five engineers were involved in the project, including five CNES engineers who brought their expertise and knowledge to achieve the platform hardware and software development, the satellite assembly, the development of the control center and the simulator for operations.
ANGELS has now completed two years in orbit, meeting the initial lifetime requirement. It has proven its reliability, service lifetime and operability. Considering this success, CNES decided to extend the satellite lifetime by two and a half years, thus leading to 4.5 years total!
The paper addresses the ANGELS mission and presents the system and the satellite design. It gives an up-to-date status of the satellite and provides in-orbit feedback. It focuses on the different elements that contributed to the success of this challenging program, while having a development approach driven by cost and schedule on one hand and by risk control on the other. Thus, the paper elaborates on lessons learned concerning product assurance strategy, innovative development approach and new working methods that were set up in line with the specific constraints of a nanosatellite combining low cost, quick development, in-orbit technology demonstration, high performance and users’ operational expectations.
ANGELS: Opening the Door of the French Newspace
Utah State University, Logan, UT
In December 2019, ANGELS, the first nanosatellite designed and developed by French industry, supported by the French Space Agency, CNES, was launched from Kourou. Development and qualification of the satellite were achieved in two and a half years: quite a challenge!
The ANGELS demonstration mission was set up as a co-funded partnership between CNES and Hemeria in order both to validate new technologies and to promote the “new space” approach. Thales Alenia Space & Syrlinks led the team in charge of the Argos Néo instrument payload. The data collected for two years now show that the chosen compromise was the right one. The satellite provides operational class performance at a fraction of the cost of previous versions of the Argos system.
The first technical challenge has been met: the size of the satellite is 22 cm x 22 cm x 35 cm, the weight is less than 20 kg although housing the Argos-Néo instrument. The latter is a demonstrator much smaller than its predecessors; it is also ten times lighter (1.5 kg) and requires three times less energy. Thanks to breakthrough technologies developed by Hemeria, Thales Alenia Space, Syrlinks and seven other industrial partners, ANGELS proved in orbit its new miniaturization design and its high capabilities.
Much beyond the original demonstration target, ANGELS with its Argos Néo instrument ensures an operational service to the Argos user community. It is now part of the existing Argos operational constellation whose Mission Center is operated by Kinéis. It collects Argos beacon messages used for environmental monitoring and wildlife tracking.
Management, design, development and validation, use of miniaturized commercial components, smart risk strategy to reduce costs and lead times, operational concept... almost everything was revisited through ANGELS. To carry out this mission, CNES and Hemeria jointly worked as a single team collocated at Hemeria Toulouse facilities. Twenty-five engineers were involved in the project, including five CNES engineers who brought their expertise and knowledge to achieve the platform hardware and software development, the satellite assembly, the development of the control center and the simulator for operations.
ANGELS has now completed two years in orbit, meeting the initial lifetime requirement. It has proven its reliability, service lifetime and operability. Considering this success, CNES decided to extend the satellite lifetime by two and a half years, thus leading to 4.5 years total!
The paper addresses the ANGELS mission and presents the system and the satellite design. It gives an up-to-date status of the satellite and provides in-orbit feedback. It focuses on the different elements that contributed to the success of this challenging program, while having a development approach driven by cost and schedule on one hand and by risk control on the other. Thus, the paper elaborates on lessons learned concerning product assurance strategy, innovative development approach and new working methods that were set up in line with the specific constraints of a nanosatellite combining low cost, quick development, in-orbit technology demonstration, high performance and users’ operational expectations.
