A. Bühler, I. Pitz, M. Manthey, M. Acikel, S. Grau, E. Stoll

During the 2022/23 winter term, students at the Chair of Space Technology at Technische Universität Berlin developed a multispectral, multi-CubeSat imager formation. The formation was named MIMIR (Multispectral Imager satellite forMation for Inter satellite link and optical downlink demonstRation). A primary mission driver was to address ecological and environmental concerns. The formation consists of eight 1.5U CubeSats - six for imaging and two for payload data transmission. Each of the imaging satellites carries four camera systems with narrow-band spectral filters. This results in 12 redundant spectral channels forming the distributed payload system ARCOS (Agricultural Remote-sensing Cameras On-board Satellites). The chosen channels are located in the visible and near-infrared spectrum. This is motivated by the "red edge" at the boundary between these two spectral ranges. The red edge is a region of rapid change in the reflectance of vegetation - chlorophyll absorbs light in the visible part of the spectrum, but becomes transparent at wavelengths larger than 700 nm. Changes in internal processes and leaf structure affect the absorption of radiation and thus reveal physiological stress in plants. Applying state-of-the-art vegetation health indices, e.g. the NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), on the channel data enables monitoring crop health. In collaboration with interested parties in the geo-information technology environment, this extends to the detection of drought and crop disease. To allow for fast stakeholder access to data, an optical downlink is used for data transmission at a high transfer rate. The satellite formation is a distributed system that enables redundant coverage of different spectral bandwidths for stakeholders who put up demands within similar time slots. Picosatellite fluid-dynamic actuators allow more agile changes in attitude for small angles than conventionally used reaction wheels. This enables artificial camera swath width increase aboard the six imaging satellites and lossless data transmission for the inter-satellite data transmission link. At the present time, a system study is being performed, with the objective to achieve a proof of concept by 2024. In this work, the mission design and development state of the MIMIR formation is described, detailing the mechanical, electrical, and attitude determination and control systems.

Deutscher Luft- und Raumfahrtkongress 2023, Stuttgart

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt - Lilienthal-Oberth e.V., Bonn, 2023

Conference Paper

englisch

21,0 x 29,7 cm, 9 Seiten

urn:nbn:de:101:1-2023102013272501463469

10.25967/610450

agricultural, CubeSat, remote sensing, multispectral, formation flight

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Bühler, A.; Pitz, I.; et al. (2023): ARCOS: A Distributed Agricultural Remote-Sensing Camera System on Board a Cubesat Formation. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt - Lilienthal-Oberth e.V.. (Text). https://doi.org/10.25967/610450. urn:nbn:de:101:1-2023102013272501463469.

20.10.2023