Solutions

Mission

PROBA-2 is the second of ESA’s PRoject for OnBoard Autonomy satellites, developed by QinetiQ Space (Kruibeke, B). It carries four scientific instruments: two particle detectors to monitor the plasma environment of the spacecraft (DSPL and TPMU) and two complementary instruments (SWAP, an extreme-ultraviolet telescope and LYRA, Lyman-Alpha radiator) which monitor solar activity.

PROBA-2 is a 0.6 × 0.6 × 0.8 m³, box-shaped structure with two deployable solar panels and a nominal weight of 130 kilograms. The primary mechanical structure consists of three aluminium honeycomb panels arranged in an H configuration and a bottom panel that acts as the interface to the launch vehicle. Almost all the satellite system units are mounted on these inner panels.

PROBA-2’s mission is to fly – as PROBA-1 – a suite of technology demonstrators. Both platform as passenger demonstrations are carried out. The latter, from which SWAP is part of – are intended to gain flight heritage and experience before committing them to the infrastructure of other missions.

SWAP is continuously monitoring the solar activity.

OIP’s Participation

OIP, as a subcontractor to CSL, was responsible for the design and development of the Focal Plane Assembly (FPA), a part of the SWAP instrument that was flown on ESA’s PROBA-2 mission. Also the integration of the electronics, delivered by Deltatec, was performed by OIP. The thermal analyses on the FPA were performed by OIP, leading to a dimensioning of a radiator.

OIP participated in the C and D phase. The Kick-off was held in July 2004. The final acceptance review took place in January 2007.
OIP delivered a Structural & Thermal Model (STM) and a Flight Model (FM).

Status

PROBA-2, one of the smallest satellites ever built by ESA, piggybacked its way into orbit on a Rockot vehicle on 2 November 2009 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia. The SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) and PROBA-2 were launched together.

After a successful launch, the SWAP(-FPA) instrument was successfully switched-on 15 days later to check its condition. All fine allowing to grab the first image of the Sun on December 14th, 2009 after the door was opened.

Raw SWAP data are downloaded 8-10 times per day at ESA’s ground station in Redu and transferred to the PROBA-2 Science Center (P2SC) via ftp link. Once received by the P2SC, the data are automatically processed, calibrated, and prepared for public distribution.

PROBA-2 began its scientific mission in March 2010. All data obtained since then are freely available and fully calibrated. PROBA-2 already exceeded its intended nominal life time of 2 years. Nice images and movie sequence of for example solar eclipses, Venus transitions and solar flares are nicely recorded. Operations are sill running ….

Partners

The SWAP instrument consortium was led by Centre Spatial de Liège (CSL, B) as lead institute supported by the Royal Observatory of Belgium (ROB, Uccle, B) and with an industrial team comprising Alcatel Lucent (Antwerp, B), AMOS SA (Liège, B), Deltatec (Liège, B), Fill Factory NV (Leuven, B) and OIP Sensor Sytems (Oudenaarde, B).

OIP was a subcontractor to CSL for the SWAP-FPA development.

The project was funded by the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO), through the ESA/PRODEX program.