Speaker
Description
Abstract – OPS-SAT-1 EOL
The OPS-SAT-1 spacecraft, an innovative CubeSat mission launched on December 18, 2019, by the European Space Agency (ESA), successfully demonstrated advanced in-orbit technology until its reentry on May 22, 2024. This presentation offers an overview of the satellite’s final weeks of operations, focusing on onboard telemetry analysis, the impact of anomalies, aerodynamic drag, and the influence of the Attitude and Orbit Control System (AOCS) on altitude loss.
The presentation further discusses the UHF campaign, which gathered significant radio amateur support and enabled better reentry coverage than would be expected of a small cubesat mission A 3D visualization and telemetry data were provided live in real time during the last stages of re-entry further increasing the engagement with the public and radio amateur community.
The telemetry gathered onboard, TLE data and ground station passes provide a new dataset for future analysis. Initial findings shall be discussed, and the final dataset is publicly available from the OPS-SAT Space Lab website for researchers interested in performing their own analysis.
ESA mission operators faced several operational challenges in the weeks preceding reentry. Deteriorating components led to undesired reboots and spacecraft recoveries, along with shortening operational windows. The operations team rapidly developed creative solutions, such as Onboard Board Control Procedure (OBCP) to prevent shutdowns of the onboard computer. We discuss operational experiences and lessons learned during the reentry phase to extend the lifetime of the mission and operations, as well as gather relevant telemetry.
This presentation details the OPS-SAT-1 CubeSat’s reentry phase, highlighting the management of anomalies, optimization of aerodynamic drag, and operational challenges. It presents analyses of onboard telemetry and TLE data. The successful campaign involving the amateur radio community for UHF packet collection during reentry provided critical data. The experiences and findings offer valuable lessons for future CubeSat missions.
