Fotino: design, manufacturing, testing of the capsule of the second Young Engineers' Satellite

Paper number

IAC-06-E1.1.05

Author

Mr. Fabio De Pascale, European Space Agency (ESA)/ESTEC, The Netherlands

Coauthor

Mr. Michiel Kruijff, Delta-Utec, The Netherlands

Year

2006

Abstract

Fotino is the re-entry capsule of the Young Engineers' Satellite 2 tethered re-entry
demonstration experiment SpaceMail.
It is a re-entry capsule entirely designed by students and will fly on-board the Foton-M3
mission in September 2007. The Young Engineers' Satellite, is an ESA educational project
that involves students from more than 20 countries.
The 5 kg capsule's prime objective is demonstration of lightweight re-entry technology,
entering a new regime of aerothermodynamics and recording its re-entry conditions. The
simple spherical shape makes it ideal to verify theory and tests with flight results.
Fotino carries about 1 kg payload for scientific measurements, including pressure
sensors, thermocouples, magnetometers, gyroscopes, accelerometers and a GPS
receiver. All the data will be stored in an internal FLASH memory and transmitted on
UHF for redundancy.
The recoverability of the capsule is ensured by a redundant location system (ARGOS
beacon and UHF transmission) and a parachute system.
The exceptionally low weight record has been reached thanks to the use of an
innovative passive Thermal Protection System, like the rest of Fotino developed by
university students. The TPS manufacturing is simple and opens possibilities for future
low-cost re-entry missions.
The whole capsule has gone through several testing campaigns, including drop tests,
thermal tests, shaker table tests and plasma chamber tests, all in parallel with
simulations thus proving the validity of the design and qualifying the capsule for the
mission.
This paper provides an overview of the capsule development, describing the design
choices that made the capsule possible, together with the manufacturing process and
the testing results.

Abstract document

IAC-06-E1.1.05.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-06-E1.1.05.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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