Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Workshop Rationale:
The purpose of this workshop is to provide an introduction to space mission design and
planning using Open Cosmos’ beeApp platform. The curriculum of the workshop will
cater to students, teachers and professionals, making use of the Mission and System
Design (MSD) tool of beeApp.
Outcomes:
For members with a little background in space mission design, this workshop will
introduce the main considerations and parameters that must be considered when
designing a space mission. For members with more experience in the space industry,
this workshop will demonstrate how Open Cosmos’ tools can simplify and streamline
the process of developing a space mission. During this workshop, participants will be
provided with free access to beeApp and they will be asked to provide feedback in an
online questionnaire.
Workshop Objectives:
✓ Learn the main aspects involved in the development of a space mission with
special focus on small satellites.
✓ Learn the main parameters and constraints considered during the mission
design process.
✓ Understand key technologies behind real space missions.
✓ Perform preliminary space mission design and analysis for different demo
missions using Open Cosmos’ beeApp platform.
✓ Learn about policies and regulations that must be considered during the mission
design process.
Workshop Overview:
Duration ~1 hour
● Introduction
● Mission Concept
○ Mission Topic - Why?
○ Mission Objectives - What?
○ Timescale - When?
○ Mission Requirements
● Mission architecture - How?
○ Payload
○ Platform
○ Orbit
○ Ground segment
○ Launch
● Space Law
There are a set of engaging exercises and 3 hands-on activities in which participants will
iterate over the main mission parameters, and see the effect of various decisions on the
overall mission.
● Find the ISS ground track around the world in the next 24 hours from now.
● How long does one ISS pass last approximately?
Hints:
1. PLATFORM - Select any Platform
2. PAYLOAD - No actions needed
3. MISSION - Input one Point Of Interest (POI)
- Select at least one Ground Station
4. SIMULATION - Set the ISS orbit (leave as it is)
- Input local Start Time by writing “now” and 24 hours as S
imulation Time
5. Start the simulation by clicking on “Simulate”
6. RESULTS - Go to visibility summary and click on POI
https://beeapp.open-cosmos.com
Bonus
Which is the best location to watch the ISS among the following Points Of Interest (POIs) and why?
● Equatorial latitudes: ~0°
● Mid latitude: ~45°
● Polar latitudes: ~90°
Resources
● beeApp:
https://beeapp.open-cosmos.com
● Heavens above:
https://www.heavens-above.com/ISS_3D.aspx
Resources
● beeApp:
https://beeapp.open-cosmos.com
● Galileo animation:
https://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/content/view/embedjw/480296
● Weather forecasting
● tracking biodiversity and wildlife trends
● measuring land-use change (such as deforestation)
● monitoring and responding to natural disasters including fires, floods,
earthquakes, landslides, land subsidence and tsunamis
● managing natural resources, such as energy, freshwater and agriculture
● addressing emerging diseases and other health risks
● predicting, adapting to and mitigating climate change
Challenge
Design and simulate a mission scenario to scan a Region Of Interest (eg. Africa) and
download the generated data with a 6U CubeSat using SENTINEL-2 mission as a
reference. The set of sensors integrated in Sentinel-2 consume 45.6W and generate
around 2 Mbps of information with a FOV of 20 degrees. The sensors required 0.01
degree of pointing accuracy.
Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-2B have the same orbit but they are both separated by 180
degrees. The circular orbit has a mean altitude of 786 km in Sun Synchronous Orbit
(SSO) with a Local Time of Ascension Node (LTAN) of 10.5 hours. This value of LTAN was
chosen as a compromise between a suitable level of solar illumination and the
minimisation of potential cloud cover.
1. Which is the optimal platform configuration?
3U-A, 6U-B or 12U-B
2. Which set of Ground Stations are more suitable regarding data downlink and
why? ESR and NP or SGP and PAN
Bonus
How much time approximately would it take to image more than 50% of the surface of Madagascar
with the same instrument parameters as the Sentinel-2 satellites?
Resources
www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/content/view/embedjw/473937
www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/content/view/embedjw/448794
www.youtube.com/embed/BklRNdbncGM?rel=0
www.youtube.com/embed/tJ3w2T-gsTM?rel=0
https://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/content/view/embedjw/440530
http://emits.sso.esa.int/emits-doc/S2_FIREIFSpec_B2CDE1_EMITS.pdf