Here you can find more information about the infrastructure for the development, construction and operation of small satellites at the IRS. For the operation and development of small satellites, the small satellite group at the IRS has a large number of tools at its disposal. In addition to the development of the small satellite " Flying Laptop ", the working group also dealt with the installation of a ground station and a clean room for integration.
A payload calibration optics laboratory has been established, as well as a thermal vacuum chamber for component qualification and a satellite simulator for software verification and operational simulation.
These infrastructures, which are necessary for the development, qualification, construction and operation of small satellites, pave the way for future satellite projects at the University of Stuttgart. To communicate with the institute's own satellite, the IRS has its own ground station.
The objective of the installation of the system is to automate operations as much as possible. Thus, the usage time of the satellite is to be maximized without providing an expensive and complex hour manual operation. The main tasks of this station are sending commands to the satellite telecommanding, TC , the reception of Housekeeping data telemetry, TM , as well as the download of the scientific payload data from the satellite downlink payload, DDS.
Both are done in the right-hand circular polarization oriented RHCP. We are using a parabolic antenna with a reflector diameter of 2. To meet the requirements of the pointing accuracy, the antenna has been equipped with new stepper motors, position sensors and new control electronics. Overall, the antenna reaches a calibrated pointing accuracy of 0. An overview of the antenna system can be seen in the following picture.
