A High Performance Earth Observation Small Satellite Platform

Paper number

IAC-07-B1.I.10

Author

Dr. Mike Cutter, Surrey Satellite Technoloy Ltd, United Kingdom

Coauthor

Andrew Cawthorne, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., United Kingdom

Coauthor

Coauthor

Mr. Philip Davies, Surrey Space Centre, University of Surrey, United Kingdom

Coauthor

Dr. Adam M. Baker, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., United Kingdom

Coauthor

Prof. Martin Sweeting, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., United Kingdom

Year

2007

Abstract

This paper will describe a new high performance Earth Observation Platform, which has been developed to provide customers with a capability that has previously only been available at much higher cost and on larger platforms.
This platform offers a 7-year mission lifetime with a very high operational availability. A variant of this system is currently under construction.
The main payload is a very high-resolution imager VHRI) with a panchromatic 2.5m ground sampling distance (GSD) channel and four multispectral channels offering 5m GSD. The imager swath is 20km in all channels.
Additional payloads can be accommodated, such as the Medium Resolution Imager (MRI), offering lower resolution of 22m or 32m GSD in four multiple spectral bands with 318km swath width. The 32m MRI has already flown on four previous Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) Missions. High performance geo-location is provided, the performance of which is dependent on the chosen subsystem options.
For the VHRI and the MRI simultaneous imaging is possible and scenes can be as long as 2000km. The images data is compressed on-board using lossless data compression, for store-and-forward operations. Furthermore, switchable DES encryption is available on the TM/TC as well as switchable scrambling on payload data. Near real-time imaging \& down-linking is possible for a range of targets close to the ground station.
A range of imaging modes are available including: strip mapping, fast response scene capture, stereo imaging with pitch angles between 10 and 45° to provide digital elevation models and increased area coverage to provide wide-swath high-resolution imagery of up to 85km.
The nominal orbit will be sun-synchronous, with a 10.30am node to provide repeatable global coverage and good lighting conditions. The platform will orbit at approximately 700km, which provides good optimisation for single satellite and constellation revisits. On-board propulsion is included for orbit maintenance.

Abstract document

IAC-07-B1.I.10.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-07-B1.I.10.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.