Technology Demonstration Instrumentation

17 new technologies were tested in orbit by PROBA2 (more information can be found at the ESA D/TEC Pages) :

 

  • a new type of lithium-ion battery, developed by SAFT (FR)
  • an advanced data and power management system, containing many new component technologies including the LEON processor developed by Verhaert Space (BE)
  • combined carbon-fibre and aluminium structural panels, developed by Apco Technologies SA (CH)
  • new models of reaction wheels from Dynacon (CA), startrackers from DTU (DK) and GPS receivers from DLR (DE)
  • an upgraded telecommand system with a decoder largely implemented in software by STT- SystemTechnik GmbH (DE)
  • a digital Sun-sensor, developed by TNO (NL)
  • a dual-frequency GPS receiver, developed by Alcatel Espace (FR)
  • a fibre-sensor system for monitoring temperatures and pressures around the satellite, developed by MPB Communications Inc. (CA)
  • a new startracker development being test-flown before use on the BepiColombo mission, developed by Galileo Avionica (IT)
  • a very high-precision flux-gate magnetometer, developed by DTU (DK)
  • an experimental solar panel with a solar flux concentrator, developed by CSL (BE)
  • a xenon gas propulsion system using resistojet thrusters and a solid-state nitrogen gas generator to pressurise the propellant tanks, developed by SSTL (GB) and Bradford (NL)
  • an exploration micro-camera (X-CAM), developed by Micro-cameras & Space Exploration (CH)
  • new GNC algorithms developed by NGC (CA)