Paper Category: Missions
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IRIDE EAGLET-II LEOP: A New Operational Paradigm for Constellation Operations
The increasing adoption of satellite constellations in LEO orbit is driving new operational challenges during the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) that becomes increasingly critical. Thousands of satellites are sharing the Low Earth Orbit, elevating the importance of phasing strategies and collision mitigation, which are now central topics in mission design discussions. This paper…
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WAVE-XS: Water-Based Micropropulsion for Smallsats
Europe’s rapid smallsat scaling is increasing demand for propulsion that is safe to handle, simple to integrate, and operationally useful across the full mission lifecycle—including collision-avoidance maneuvers and end-of-life deorbit. This paper presents WAVE-XS, a water-centered micropropulsion architecture for CubeSats and small spacecraft that uses stored liquid water as the only consumable and converts it…
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Decentralized Operational Framework for Autonomous Space Traffic Management in High-Drag VLEO Environments
The rapid expansion of Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) constellations introduces significant complexities in orbital maintenance due to non-conservative forces, primarily stochastic atmospheric drag. Traditional centralized Space Traffic Management (STM) architectures, which rely on batch-processed updates and human-in-the-loop decision making, are increasingly incapable of managing the high-frequency station-keeping maneuvers required in these altitudes. This paper…
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Enabling Secure Maritime Connectivity: MAIV of the MICE-1 CubeSat Mission
The increasing reliance of Maritime IoT and Internet of Vessels (IoV) applications on satellite connectivity places stringent requirements not only on system architecture and communications performance, but also on the robustness, manufacturability, and verification of spaceborne platforms operating in demanding environments. In this context, nanosatellite missions targeting maritime services must balance tight mass, volume, and…
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Passive Spin-Stabilised Solar Sailing for CubeSat Heliocentric Escape
Project Svarog is a student-led initiative at Imperial College London aiming to reach the heliopause using a CubeSat-class spin-stabilised solar-sail demonstrator. Small spacecraft are increasingly being considered for missions to extreme heliocentric distances, including NASA’s Solar Gravitational Lens concept at a starting 550 AU focal line. Recent missions have also highlighted the difficulty of maintaining…
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Moonraker: De-Risking Lunar Landing Sites with High Resolution LiDAR
With renewed international interest in returning mankind to the Moon, safely landing both robotic and manned landers on the rough surface has become a critical challenge. Hazards such as small boulders, craters, and slopes can easily tip a lander and are often not visible in current elevation maps of the Moon. Today’s best topographic data…
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In-Orbit Demonstration of OrbFIX: a High-Accuracy PNT Device for LEO Satellites
OrbFIX is a high-accuracy positioning device designed for small satellites operating in LEO, and is developed by Romanian InSpace Engineering under a series of ESA contracts. It integrates a multi-band, multi-constellation GNSS receiver tracking all available signals with a Precise Point Positioning (PPP) algorithm that implements Galileo High Accuracy Service (HAS) corrections to provide a…
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L-FIRE: A Distributed Aperture CubeSat Radio Telescope
The Low-Frequency Interferometric Radio Explorer (L-FIRE) is a proposed space-based mission concept designed to unlock the low-frequency radio spectrum (1–40 MHz). Regimes below 10 MHz are of particular interest, as they are largely inaccessible from the ground due to ionospheric opacity. L-FIRE will deploy a distributed interferometric observatory composed of 10 or more CubeSats, each…
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ESA’s Lightship Propulsive Tug; an Enabler for Small, Low -Cost Mars Missions
The Exploration, Preparation, Research and Technology (ExPeRT) Mars team within the Human and Robotic Exploration (HRE) directorate in the European Space Agency (ESA) is currently performing industrial studies on the LightShip Propulsive Tug mission concept and has recently reached the end of Phase A. The LightShip Propulsive Tug concept is designed to deliver a single…
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COTS coolers for space applications
COTS coolers for space applications H. Schot, G. de Jonge, C. Vasse Thales Cryogenics B.V. Eindhoven, The Netherlands The field-proven reliability and robustness of many mechanical cryocoolers has improved to a point where many cost-sensitive space missions are now using these commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) units for flight. In this presentation, we will present cryocooler models…