SLAVIA Satellites

Prove a concept of a low-cost satellite able to provide spectral analysis of NEO composition.

Launching two microsatellites equipped with advanced technologies into Earth orbit to find sources of raw materials in space – this is the goal of the SLAVIA space mission, which successfully completed preparatory phase verifying its overall technological solution. She should start her flight into space in 2027. The preparation of the mission was co-founded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and supported as one of its ambitious projects Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic.

Three scientific payloads designed to fulfil a simple goal: to prove a concept of a low-cost satellite able to provide spectral analysis of NEO composition. SLAVIA will be equipped with a hyperspectral camera for analysis of meteor ablation plasma, a mass spectrometer exploring the dust composition on orbit and a radio antenna telling us crucial information needed for plasma spectral analysis. SLAVIA would be a first step in demonstrating, in Earth orbit, the required capability for asteroid space resources exploration. SLAVIA will pave the way to develop future missions using similar techniques for exploring the Apophis resources in situ in 2029, and later on, on the Moon in the 2030s.The long-term goal is creating an evidence-based map of resource wealth and unlocking the possibility of reasonable space mining.

High-resolution mass spectrometer HANKA (Mass Analyzer for Cosmic Applications) can examine in detail the chemical and mineralogical composition of interplanetary dust and micrometeoroids. “It is the first space project in which high-resolution mass analysis will take place directly in space, not in terrestrial laboratories after the return of samples,” specifies Ján Žabka from the J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry AS CR, head of the team developing the HANKA mass spectrometer.

Camera Vesna will record the radiation of meteors in a wide range of wavelengths (larger particles of interplanetary matter heat up when entering the Earth's atmosphere and form a plasma or meteor, a light phenomenon popularly called a shooting star) and detects spectral line prints of various elements.

Physical parameters of the plasma will be refined Říp-2 antennas - they will capture the reflections and emission of its radio signals, which has never been done from orbit before. The antenna can also detect the impact of dust grains on the satellite and measure the radio signals of atmospheric discharges.