EIVE Spacecraft

Demonstrate radio link in the E-band at 71 - 76 GHz between a satellite and a ground station.

A radio link in the E-band at 71 - 76 GHz between a satellite and a ground station will be demonstrated. The radio link should reach an RF bandwidth of 5 GHz with a useful bandwidth of 2.5 GHz. The influence of different weather conditions (eg cloud cover, rain, snow) on the radio link should be characterized. Pseudorandom data should be able to be looped continuously at a sample rate of 2.5 GSps using an arbitrary waveform generator. It should be possible to switch between different types of modulation.

Uncompressed video data from a high-resolution camera should be transmitted in real time via the E-band radio link. This is to demonstrate that in addition to known data patterns, real data can be transmitted in high bandwidth. Video data should be compressed and stored in the satellite. Any data stored on the satellite should be transmitted with different modulation types via the E-band radio link. The video camera should also be used for Earth observation purposes.

The E-band payload consists of two proprietary GaN solid state power amplifiers and a GaAs based low noise preamplifier.

EIVE operations were an enormous challenge due to the circumstances of the project, but have been a complete success thus far. Limited by a tight schedule, an unfinished OBSW, a first basic MCS version and reduced test facilities, a rather dynamic environment prevailed, that prevented operations from being entirely planned and prepared. This led to a change in the operations philosophy, which then focused primarily on the fundamentals ranging from satellite survival to idle mode commissioning.

Tests and OBSW implementations were conducted in the knowledge that further OBSW updates would be necessary in orbit to achieve the mission objectives. Although a dedicated spacecraft simulator is preferred for satellite missions, the feasibility of planning and performing satellite operations with limited test facilities has been demonstrated. However, the difficulties and risks related to operations must be known and addressed with a suitable space segment and appropriate safety measures.

With the aforementioned focus on the fundamentals, the LEOP was carried out completely successfully and EIVE was confirmed as being capable of surviving in the space environment. Further commissioning of the satellite bus and the payload was completed with some flaws identified. The GNSSs had to be declared defective and the PLOC is subject of further investigations. The first phase of routine operations of the E-band payload has begun with promising results. The SCEX has exceeded expectations and new sub-mission objectives are being defined.

• Microcontroller - Xilinx Zynq 7020

• Ayris 1
• Ayris 2
• Delta
• EIVE
• FOSSASat FEROX 1
• FOSSASat FEROX 2
• FOSSASat FEROX 3
• FOSSASat FEROX 4
• GEI-SAT
• Lemur-2 166
• Lemur-2 168
• Lemur-2 167 (Forest-2)
• MISR-A
• MISR-B
• SpaceBEE-168
• SpaceBEE-169
• SpaceBEE-170
• SpaceBEE-171
• SpaceBEE-172
• SpaceBEE-173
• SpaceBEE-174
• SpaceBEE-175
• SpaceBEE-176
• SpaceBEE-177
• SpaceBEE-178
• SpaceBEE-179
• Tiger-4
• XVI
• ELO-4
• EPICHyper-2
• Kelpie 2
• Outpost Mission 0
• Spei Satelles (SpeiSat)
• Istanbul
• MRC-100
• ROM-2
• SATLLA-2I
• Unicorn-2I
• URESAT-1
• MDQSAT-1C
• MDQSAT-1D
• Pleiades - Squared