ADEO – Raumfahrt-KMU – Best of Space

Aviosonic´s patented DeCAS for tracking and re-entry footprint prediction extending high- tech-lead of Europe´s satellite deorbit system “ADEO” unassailably

By Jens Janke on 12. May 2023in Common, Companies, Politics

MoU of Space SMEs Aviosonic and HPS to join forces fighting space debris – right in time for Europe´s new constellation IRIS²

(Munich-Milano, May 11 th , 2023). At testified TRL-9 and with solid flight heritage the sail system “ADEO” already is the leading device for quickly deorbiting almost all satellites, thus preventing spacecrafts after their end of mission from becoming as well as producing new space junk for years to come. Because it is a sail, it does not produce any pollution itself, chemical or otherwise, and because this very sail will be in its next version also transparent and absolutely non-reflective, it does not cause any irritations to any space observer on earth. Munich based spacetech innovator HPS, a medium sized company with a subsidiary in Romania and a total headcount of 80, has invested – together with several institutional and industrial partners – 12 years of constant development and qualifying into ADEO, and is now ready to take yet another giant leap by joining innovative forces with Aviosonic Space Tech, Milan/Italy.

Aviosonic Space Tech, born in 2015, owns the patented DeCAS system (Debris Collision Alert System) for in-orbit/de-orbit tracking and re-entry footprint prediction of space vehicles. DeCAS is a 1U mm system which always maintains a constant link with the ground operation center allowing precise information on the satellite position, along with the calculation of the re-entry footprint in real time, with the aim of collision avoidance between satellites, satellites and aircrafts as well as to alert government agencies. The technical characteristics and modularity allow DeCAS to be installed on any space vehicle, offering different services depending on the mission requirements. DeCAS, which took part in different space missions, provides a unique service or satellite tracking, decommissioning and re-entry prediction in real-time.

Prof. Piermarco Martegani, CEO of Aviosonic Space Tech says:”The integration between DeCAS and ADEO allows the creation of a unique product on the market capable of strongly implementing the safety of space operations both during orbital and decommissioning re-entry phases, even in the event of failure of the hosting satellite. This safety information is also needed by the Air Traffic Management System. The collaboration between Aviosonic Space Tech and HPS is the demonstration that in order to guarantee safety during space operations, an international cooperation between SMEs is necessary.”

HPS-CEO Ernst K. Pfeiffer shows bulletproof confidence in the future of ADEO on the world market and emphasizes: “ADEO has all the facts on its side: first, all space industry badly needs a deorbit device like ADEO, since the faster the sail opens free orbit positions, the longer we can keep space as a sustainable surrounding. And, from second to infinite: ADEO combines TRL9 and flight heritage, offers a comprehensive range of models, beats economically as well as ecologically any other type of deorbit device, also it is already in serial production at HPS. And now we even join forces with the two outstanding innovators in their fields, and others will join, underlining once again what´s at the core of ADEO: 100 percent European, 100 percent SME, 100 percent sustainability in space – and exactly what Europe wants for IRIS².”

Point of contact
HPS: Daniel Stelzl, stelzl@hps-gmbh.com
Aviosonic: Prof. Piermarco Martegani, info@aviosonic.it

ADEO
German: https://www.hps-gmbh.com/tag/adeo/
English: https://www.hps-gmbh.com/en/tag/adeo-en/
Video: https://youtu.be/pUeSZzdn_6c

ADEO: a new chapter in space history in six seconds Historical video evidence from HPS and D-Orbit

By Jens Janke on 28. February 2023in Common, Companies

On December 15, 2022, at 12:10 UTC, the world’s unique ADEO braking sail from the German space technology company HPS GmbH, Munich, opened the chapter of sustainability for international spaceflight 500 kilometers above the Earth: as planned, on time and precisely, the sail attached to the ION SCV 003 satellite unfurled over an area of 3.6 square meters to remove “its” satellite from orbit in the shortest possible time without leaving any residue, thus avoiding hazards for other space vehicles and making room for the next generation of satellites at its former orbital position. Preliminary studies and calculations indicate that this will reduce the descent time not by half, as originally expected, but rather by as much as five times.

The video, recorded directly on site with the on-board camera of the ION satellite of the Italian cooperation partner D-Orbit, provides live proof: with the product of HPS, which is now ready for series production after twelve years of development with great support from ESA, DLR and the Bavarian government, a new era of responsibility in space is beginning. ADEO is manufactured in series by HPS at its sites in Munich and Bucharest, primarily for constellation satellites. ADEO products are available for satellites weighing up to 2,500 kilograms at flight altitudes of up to 800 km. Even higher-flying satellites can be operated with ADEO if they have previously lowered their orbit accordingly using their own propulsion. HPS CEO Ernst K. Pfeiffer: “With ADEO on board, satellites do not become space junk in the first place. And at conditions that are ALWAYS more economical than all other options.”

HPS

Ansprechpartner: Daniel Stelzl
ADEO-Kontakt: adeo@hps-gmbh.com
ADEO – News & Image: https://www.hps-gmbh.com/category/2022/
Telefon: +49 (89) 4520576-0

Qualification success for HPS in space: Smallest version of ADEO braking sail successfully deployed

By Jens Janke on 28. February 2023in Common, Companies

For 16 months now, an ION satellite carrier of the Italian service provider for unmanned space transportation D-Orbit has been orbiting the Earth in low orbit. Launched by a Falcon 9 on June 30th 2021, it has only one last task after the mission launch of the high-tech passengers from eleven countries: to sail gently as if on “angel wings” to the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere in the shortest possible time with the help of the autonomous braking sail ADEO from the Munich-based space company HPS and to burn up there without leaving any residue.

The test model is the smallest variant of the ADEO product family with a weight of 800 grams, a packing size of 10x10x10 cm and an unfolded sail area of 3.6 square meters. This ADEO-mission “Show me your Wings” is now the final proof-of-concept in a series that also included a first flight with Rocket Lab’s Electron in 2018 and several parabolic flights from 2019 to 2022.

After the end of this nominal ION mission called “Wild Ride”, ADEO’s decelerator sail now deployed in front of the “eyes” of the integrated camera and immediately initiated descent (“deorbit”). ADEO completes deorbiting many years faster than the “unbraked” satellites currently still in widespread use and clears its operational position in orbit correspondingly earlier for a new satellite, which also prevents uncontrolled pollution of space by collision debris. In addition, ADEO helps extend the satellite’s uptime by allowing the sail to continue its descent even when the satellite is out of power and propulsion.

Incidentally, the time required for deorbiting is accurately measured so that it can be used for any necessary recalibration of the HPS deorbit timer. This is a globally unique computational program for predicting the deorbit times of all possible satellites with and without ADEO braking sails. The theoretically developed mathematical algorithms of the computer are thereby differentially refined by empirically obtained data from the field. The ADEO Deorbit Timer is a valuable service to HPS customers around the world.

Series production of the ADEO versions for all satellite classes with flight altitudes below 900 kilometers is in full swing at HPS in Munich (Germany) and Bucharest (Romania). The first companies, such as NewSpace startup Reflex Aerospace (Berlin and Munich), have already signed letters of intent to equip their entire future satellite fleet with ADEO or have announced that they will do so shortly. Others like BST, Berlin, are integrating ADEO as a standard option in their offerings to customers. An additional surge in demand was triggered in the fall of 2022 by the announcement by international policymakers that satellite deorbit times would be drastically shortened down to just 5 years due to the extreme increase in usage density on all orbits, and that corresponding additional equipment would be required by law.

The extremely sharp picture proof of the successful unfolding now opens a new chapter in the history of HPS, in addition HPS CEO Ernst K. Pfeiffer: “And again, a new chapter of programmatic success could be written, which is only possible through trusted space partnerships: research and development with institutes (like the Fraunhofer Institute in Freiburg and the DLR in Bremen) in the early and development stages, financial support from the Bavarian State and the German Space Agency, a very strong engagement of ESA within its GSTP-program (without this support, including the people behind it, we would still be a long way off!!!), the extremely dedicated staff of my NewSpace team and finally with the people of the system companies, like D-Orbit, who finally, made possible to download from space the image of the unfolded sail, which is important for our next chapter. A great step for HPS, another step for sustainable spaceflight.”

HPS

Point of contact: Daniel Stelzl
ADEO-Contact: adeo@hps-gmbh.com
ADEO – News & Image: https://www.hps-gmbh.com/en/category/2022-en/
Telephone: +49 (89) 4520576-0

3 – 2 – 1 – Next liftoff for the HPS space sail ADEO-N3 on the satellite carrier ION of the Italian mission provider D-ORBIT

By Jens Janke on 31. January 2023in Common, Politics

Already in the heat of last summer, HPS in Munich was preparing for the third mission of the innovative space brake sail ADEO-N, which unfolds automatically at the end of the mission and drives “its” satellite into the atmosphere to burn up. This technology avoids the formation of new space debris already on the ground and finally makes space missions sustainable.

The ION Satellite Carrier with ADEO-N3 with its sail area of 5sqm has been on board a Falcon 9 since the picture book start on January, 31, 2023 from spaceport Vandenberg, California, now on the way to the target orbit at 270 to 500 km altitude at 53 degrees inclination. Probably by the end of 2023 ADEO-N3 will then, as on previous flights – including one with ION also on Falcon 9 – deploy the braking parachute and remove its ION Satellite Carrier from orbit without leaving any residue many times faster than usual. With the flight heritage accumulated by then, the mature ADEO system heralds a “green” space age. Because at least for European missions or missions from Europe, there will – in all probability – no longer be any more launches without deorbit tech on board: The Green Deal of the EU will then also apply to “clean-green missions” in space.

On the current flight, ADEO-N3 acts as another verification of maturity for HPS. D-Orbit and HPS already captured what will happen high above the earth during a nominal mission as historical testimony on video during the last flight:
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7021106640993021952

Video is free for publication

The attached video, recorded directly on site with the on-board camera of the ION satellite of the Italian cooperation partner D-Orbit, provides live proof: with the product of HPS, which is now ready for series production after twelve years of development with great support from ESA, DLR and the Bavarian government, a new era of responsibility in space is beginning. ADEO is manufactured in series by HPS at its sites in Munich and Bucharest, primarily for constellation satellites. ADEO products are available for satellites weighing up to 2,500 kilograms at flight altitudes of up to 800 km. Even higher-flying satellites can be operated with ADEO if they have previously lowered their orbit accordingly using their own propulsion. HPS CEO Ernst K. Pfeiffer: “With ADEO on board, satellites do not become space junk in the first place. And at conditions that are ALWAYS more economical than all other options.”

World premiere: Deorbit-Turbosail „ADEO“ by HPS selected to safeguard sustainability of Europe´s own constellation

By Jens Janke on 16. December 2021in Common, Companies, Politics

By 2025, Europe will have its own constellation of satellites to ensure sovereign capacity for both commercial and institutional communication channels. Fast Internet, autonomous mobility at sea, on ground and in the air, automatic exchange of information between technical installations, support for military and humanitarian actions, and other applications for public authorities, companies, and citizens realised by a consortium formed by Reflex, laser specialist Mynaric and launch service provider Isar Aerospace.

The European Commission is also very interested in such a concentration of innovative forces and selected the UN:IO consortium for one of its two study tenders addressed to companies from the so-called “New Space” domain and endowed with 1.4 million Euro. For the EU, a secure, very fast and, above all, sovereign communications network for Europe is a top priority.

In addition, it must meet sustainability criteria for the EU’s “Green Deal” – and that is where ADEO comes in: The ADEO subsystem is a scalable, deployable drag augmentation device that uses the residual Earth atmosphere present in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to passively de-orbit satellites between 1 to 1.500 kg. For the de-orbit manoeuvre, a large surface is deployed which multiplies the drag effect of the satellite´s surface significantly: The drag force is increased causing accelerated decay in orbit altitude. Advantageous about a drag augmentation device is that it does not require any active steering and can be designed for passive attitude stabilization, thereby making it also applicable for non-operational, tumbling spacecrafts. The passive ADEO subsystem requires neither extra propulsion nor engine, which makes it lighter in comparison to active subsystems.

So, after years of development, tests and zero-g- and in-orbit-verifications ADEO is now going to celebrate its world premiere as central element bringing sustainability to space on angel wings.

HPS GmbH

Point of contact: Dr. Ernst K. Pfeiffer, CEO
E-Mail: info@hps-gmbh.com
Telephone: +49 (89) 4520576-0

Falcon 9 rocket successfully deploys innovative technology to keep space sustainably clean

By Jens Janke on 18. August 2021in Common, Companies, Politics

On Wednesday, June 30, at 21.31 hrs CEST a Falcon 9 by Space X took off to a transporter 2-mission from legendary spaceport Cape Canaveral, Florida. On board: Italian NewSpace company D-Orbit´s ION Satellite Carrier on its „Wild Ride“-mission with tech-passengers from 11 countries, among that HPS ADEO-N2, named „Show me your Wings“. ION was successfully separated from the launcher exactly one hour after liftoff.

The ION-platform itself will now seperate one payload after the other on their respective orbits for in-orbit validation tests, until finally the platform turns into a test object itself, since it will be brought back „home“ by ADEO, the world’s only industrial NewSpace drag sail of its kind for the multiple accelerated return of retired satellites. The idea behind it: „Just keep space „cleangreen“ by launching only what you have equipped with a device to bring it quickly back home after use“, says Ernst K. Pfeiffer, CEO of German spacetech company HPS. ADEO is available from HPS in different versions tailored to the size and weight of the spacecraft in question. In this case, it is one of the smallest versions, weighing just 800 grams, with dimensions of only 10x10x10 centimeters³ and a sail area of 3.6 square meters.

HPS CEO Ernst K. Pfeiffer is convinced that ADEO came at exactly the right time to promote sustainable NewSpace development by avoiding the threat of apocalyptic space debris scenarios, despite rapidly growing constellations. In this context, Pfeiffer emphasizes the excellent R&D support provided by engineers and test facilities of the DLR Institute of Space Systems in Bremen, as well as the various economic development support contracts and grants provided by ESA, DLR and the Free State of Bavaria.

The implementation of the technology developed by HPS’s NewSpace Team at Munich headquarters was largely supported by the hands of engineers and technicians of the Romanian subsidiary and Romanian workshops. This is now, according to Pfeiffer, „our clear advantage having all in one company: heritage from institutional space, a tailored „internal start-up department“, a steadily growing house in Bucharest and several trustful development and production partners. New and expanded challenges to innovation and manufacturing are already waiting.“

At the end of the nominal ION-mission, in front of its “eyes” of the integrated cameras, the ADEO braking sail module unfolds, shows its „wings“ and leads ION to residue-free disposal by incineration in the atmosphere much quicker than without the sail. The first 100 km of descent will be monitored intensively. This is planned to happen in a mission slot between December ´21 and January ´22. This mission now is the last verification in a series that also encompasses a first flight on Rocket Lab´s Electron in 2019 and several parabolic flights until 2021.

With this inflight-proof of maturity ADEO is targeted to go then into serial production for customers already waiting in the U.S., Europe and Asia.