RapidEye – a cost-effective Earth Observation constellation
- Paper number
IAC-08.B4.3.3
- Author
Dr. Adam M. Baker, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., United Kingdom
- Coauthor
Mr. Ben Stocker, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., United Kingdom
- Coauthor
Mr. Jonathan Gebbie, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., United Kingdom
- Coauthor
Mr. Michael oxfort, RapidEye AG, Germany
- Coauthor
Mr. George Tyc, McDonald Dettwiller & Associates, Canada
- Coauthor
Mr. Joe Steyn, MDA Space Missions, Canada
- Coauthor
Mr. Norman Hannaford, MDA Space Missions, Canada
- Year
2008
- Abstract
RapidEye is a full end-to-end commercial earth observation system comprising of a constellation of 5 Earth Observation satellites, a dedicated Spacecraft Control Center (SCC), a data downlink ground station service, and a ground segment that processes the raw image data to generate data and information products. The constellation has been designed to give daily revisit over any part of the Earth, with a large swath to provide the capability of gathering a high volume of multispectral imagery with a ground sampling distance of 6.5m. This imagery will be processed and archived on the ground to provide a range of data and information products targeted at different markets by RapidEye AG. Example uses include agricultural loss adjustment, supporting the loss adjustment with regularly updated field maps; assisting precision farming by regularly providing information about crop conditions and yield predictions; and serving International Institutions by assessing expected crop harvests and monitoring usage of subsidies for disaster relief. The system is owned and operated by RapidEye AG, a commercial company located in Brandenburg Germany, and MDA is the mission prime contractor responsible for delivery of the space and ground segments, launch of the constellation, and on-orbit commissioning and sensor calibration. The two major subcontractors were SSTL for the spacecraft bus, SCC and spacecraft AIT services, and Jena Optronics (JOP) who provided the 5-band multispectral imager (RGB, red-edge, and near IR bands). MDA worked closely with RapidEye AG, and the two major subcontractors SSTL and JOP, to develop a cost effective space segment solution, allowing closure of the business case for the first small satellite constellation to support agricultural applications The paper will describe the overall RapidEye mission solution and also discuss the RapidEye spacecraft integration, comprising the modular, adaptable SSTL bus and the JOP imager. RapidEye mission operations are planned to be highly automated, with mission planning resulting in automatic generation of imaging schedules for upload to the spacecraft without operator intervention. On-board the spacecraft, imaging schedules will be registered and queued by the On-Board Data Handling subsystem up to several days in advance. The execution of imaging schedules will be completely autonomous; data is retained on board the spacecraft until a downlink pass over the X-band ground station. The RapidEye constellation is due for launch in Q2 2008, and this paper will present early results and assessment of operational performance.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-08.B4.3.3.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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