Navigation Technologies for Shield Nanosatellite - Expro+ Tender, Netherlands - 92170040

Procurement Summary

Country : Netherlands

Summary : Navigation Technologies for Shield Nanosatellite - Expro+

Deadline : 10 Jan 2024

Other Information

Notice Type : Tender

TOT Ref.No.: 92170040

Document Ref. No. : 1-11903

Competition : ICB

Financier : Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER)

Purchaser Ownership : Public

Tender Value : Refer Document

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Tender Details

Tenders are invited for Navigation Technologies for Shield Nanosatellite - Expro+

One of the ESA's accelerators for the usage of space is the "Protection Of Space Assets", to ensure resilient availability and functioning of space infrastructure on which Europe's economy and society relies for day-to-day life. According to the DoD Space Surveillance Network, there are 34, 000 pieces of orbital debris with diameter greater than 10cm. This is the portion of objects "tracked".There are also 900, 000 objects between 1 and 10 cm and 128 million pieces smaller than 1 cm. Due to the extremely high orbital velocities (26, 000km/h), the debris poses a high risk not only for human space flight, but also for satellite operations in general. The usual measure, against the risk of collision with larger objects, is to perform a collision avoidance manoeuvre. For the smaller objects, there is no defence in general (except on the International Space Stations, protected with Whipple shields). The current policy on debris management focuses on mitigation (development of shields), with minimization of fragmentation. Another aspect of the policy is debris removal. Taking a somewhat different approach, protection could be established more "locally": instead of increasing the mechanical robustness of an entire large satellite structure (including solar panels and instruments with detectors outside the satellite body), the innovation is to implement the mechanical sturdiness on a very small and agile satellite companion, able to position itself between the debris and the large satellite. The idea of a satellite "companion" is derived from advances seen in sport (like the chasing camera drone in mountain biking), in the military (the "loyal wingman" concept of 6th generation fighter), in very manoeuvrable satellites used to monitor closely other satellites or take evasive manoeuvres against debris, made possible by recent developments in communication, navigation, visual sensors and miniature thrusters. The objective of the activity is to perform a system study the navigation technologies for the design of a nano satellite that accompanies a master satellite, shielding it from small debris.

Documents

 Tender Notice