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Raumfahrt-KMU – Best of Space

Tag: Deorbit

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

By 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

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

By 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