Industrial involvement in Gaia

  
   

In May 2006 ESA officially awarded EADS Astrium (now Airbus DS) the contract to develop and build the Gaia satellite. The Toulouse branch of Astrium led the Gaia development.

Below you can find a list of Gaia contractors per country and contracted items:

  
     
Austria    
Siemens Spacecraft electrical ground support equipment: power/pyro  
RUAG Aerospace Payload module and focal plane assembly thermal hardware  
RUAG Aerospace Thermal passive hardware (multi-layer insulation)  
RUAG Aerospace Service module mechanical ground segment equipment: container and other items  
RUAG Aerospace Focal plane assembly mechanical ground segment equipment  
Siemens Radio frequency suitcase  
     
Belgium    
AMOS M2 mirrors and chemical vapour deposition  
AMOS M4 mirrors and chemical vapour deposition  
AMOS M5 mirrors and chemical vapour deposition  
CSL Payload module mechanical ground segment equipment (lot 6): Thermal vacuum ground segment equipment  
CSL Payload module thermal vacuum test facilities  
SpaceBel Payload data handling unit software  
     
Denmark    
Rovsing Spacecraft independent software verification & validation  
Terma Payload module: assembly, integration and test support (test software)  
     
Finland    
Patria Electrical interface unit  
SSF Software components production  
     
France    
EADS/Astrium SAS Gaia industrial prime  
EADS/Astrium SAS Spacecraft assembly, integration and test  
EADS/Astrium SAS Spacecraft electrical ground support equipment: central check-out system software  
Boostec Silicon carbide structures & mirror blanks  
Sagem M1 mirror and chemical vapour deposition  
Sagem Auto collimation flat mirror  
Latelec Payload module harness  
Intespace Focal plane assembly thermal vacuum facility  
EADS/Astrium SAS Gyro  
EADS/Astrium SAS Radial velocity spectrometer opto-mechanical assembly  
Intespace Test Facilities  
     
Germany    
EADS/Astrium GmbH    
Zeiss    
EADS/Astrium GmbH    
IOF    
     
Ireland    
Mc Ginley RAMS (Reliability, availability, maintainability and safety)  
Mc Ginley Product assurance / quality assurance support  
     
Italy    
Alcatel Alenia Space Micro-propulsion thruster assembly, micro-propulsion feed module, micro-propulsion electronics  
Alcatel Alenia Space (laben) Interconnection module (focal plane assembly/CCD)  
Selex Galileo Photometer prisms  
Selex Galileo Radial velocity spectrometer prisms  
Selex Galileo Solar array  
Selex Galileo Power control (conditioning) and distribution unit  
Alcatel Alenia Space X band transponder  
Selex Galileo Star tracker  
SILO Basic angle monitor density assembly  
     
Netherlands    
SSBV Spacecraft electrical ground support equipment: teleMetry and telecommand special check-out equipment  
Dutch Space Spacecraft electrical ground support equipment: avionic special check-out equipment  
Dutch Space Spacecraft electrical ground support equipment: real-time simulator  
TNO Basic angle monitor opto-mechanical assembly  
TNO Wavefront sensor opto-mechanical assembly  
SSBV Payload module electrical ground support equipment  
TNO Payload module optical ground support equipment: thermal vacuum auto collimation flat mirror mechanism  
TNO Sun sensor  
     
Norway    
Kongsberg Basic angle monitor / wavefront sensor optical sources & electronics  
Prototech Mass dummies  
     
Portugal    
Deimos Spacecraft database support  
Skysoft Spacecraft electrical ground support equipment: central checkout system hardware  
Lusospace Focal plane assembly: test optical ground support equipment and optical tools  
Ineti Video processing unit algorithms validation support (focal plane assembly simulator  
     
Spain    
Sener M2 alignment device  
Crisa Proximity electronics module  
Alcatel Alenia Space Clock distribution unit  
EADS Casa Service module structure  
EADS Casa Service module harness  
Rymsa Low-gain antenna  
Sener Deployable sunshield assembly  
EADS Casa Phased-array antenna  
     
Sweden    
Saab Ericsson Space Command and data management unit  
     
Switzerland    
RUAG Aerospace Bipods & release mechanism  
RUAG Aerospace Thermal tent structure  
Syderal Payload data handling unit  
APCO Payload module mechanical ground support equipment  
SpectraTime Rubidium atomic clock module  
     
United Kingdom    
EADS/Astrium Ltd Electrical Service Module  
Selex Systems Spacecraft documentation, configuration, schedule support  
e2v Technologies CCD detectors  
EADS/Astrium Ltd Payload module & focal plane assembly structural pieces  
EADS/Astrium Ltd Video processing unit  
MSSL Focal plane assembly: CCD/Proximity electronics module coupling  
EADS/Astrium Ltd Chemical propulsion system  
ABSL Battery  
Aerostanrew Ltd Avionics model bench structure  
     
United States    
Arde Micro-propulsion tank  
Maxwell Video processing unit digital board  
Barr Blue Photometer / Red Photometer / Radial Velocity Spectrometer optical filters  

 

 

Industrial involvement in Gaia (2002-2004)
 

During the definition phase (2002-2004) the Gaia project was supported by three industrial groups: EADS Astrium (France), Alenia (Italy) and Alcatel (France). These companies provided system level technical assistance. The project was also supported by several other companies and institutes on specific technical studies.

 
Industry Area of involvement
Alcatel (F-Cannes) System level technical assistance and definition study
Alcatel (F-Cannes) Service module design based on Herschel-Planck heritage
Alcatel (F-Toulouse) Phased array antenna
Alenia (I) System level technical assistance and definition study
EADS Astrium (F) System level technical assistance and definition study
EADS Astrium (F) CCD/Focal Plane Assembly technology demonstrator
EADS Astrium (F) Ground verification
EADS Astrium (F) High-stability optical bench
EADS Astrium (F) SiC mirror development
EADS Astrium (F) Astro-Focal Plane Assembly Focal Plane Proximity Electronics simulator within the Payload Data Handling Electronics
EADS Astrium (D) Payload Data Handling Electronics
CRISA (E) Sequencer architecture within the CCD/Focal Plane Assembly
DLR (D) CCD front end electronics within the CCD/Focal Plane Assembly
e2v (UK) CCD development within the CCD/Focal Plane Assembly
GMV (E) Data analysis
Laben (I) Payload Data Handling Unit architecture, breadboard manufacture and test
MSSL (UK) Radial Velocity Spectrometer optimisation
SIRA (UK) CCD radiation testing and Medium-Band Photometer/Radial Velocity Spectrometer focal plane design
TNO (NL) Vacuum testing of the high-stability optical bench