Airbus gana un contrato de DARPA para desarrollar una plataforma de pequeños satélites para dar soporte al programa Blackjack

HERNDON (Virginia, EE.UU.), 14 de enero de 2019 – Airbus Defense and Space Inc. ha ganado un contrato de Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA, USA) para desarrollar una plataforma de satélites a fin de dar soporte al programa Blackjack.

DARPA describe el programa Blackjack como una demostración de arquitectura que pretende mostrar la utilidad militar de constelaciones globales de órbita baja y redes en malla de menor tamaño, peso y coste. DARPA quiere adquirir plataformas de satélites comerciales a las que acoplar cargas útiles y sensores militares. La plataforma proporciona a cada satélite generación de energía, control de actitud, propulsión y transmisión de telemetría, además ofrece alojamiento para cargas útiles así como posiciones de montaje para sensores militares.

“Previamente, Airbus ha co-invertido cientos de millones de dólares en tecnología de fabricación de alta calidad y en logística de la cadena de suministro para la construcción de grandes constelaciones de pequeños satélites”, Tim Deaver, Director de US Space Programs en Airbus Defense and Space, Inc. “Airbus apuesta por el aumento de la capacidad de fabricación en Estados Unidos, y nuestros clientes gubernamentales pueden beneficiarse de esta capacidad comercial para desarrollar constelaciones en órbita terrestre baja que complementen a los grandes sistemas actuales”, añadió.

Este contrato posiciona a Airbus Defense and Space, Inc. con sede en Herndon (Virginia), y a su socio estratégico en la joint venture OneWeb Satellites, que tiene su sede en Exploration Park (Florida), como los proveedores de servicios para Blackjack.

Gracias a sus elevadas tasas de producción y a sus técnicas de gestión del diseño en función del coste, OneWeb Satellites puede ofrecer al gobierno de norteamericano y a todos sus actuales clientes unas soluciones de bajo coste para la creación de constelaciones de satélites. Éstas, con un coste más reducido, permiten configurar arquitecturas desagregadas a gran escala; mejorando su eficacia y supervivencia en muchas áreas de misión diferentes.

OneWeb Satellites lidera la oferta de nuevas propuestas para el espacio, a través del diseño y fabricación de grandes volúmenes de satélites con un rendimiento extraordinariamente alto.

“Hemos creado un concepto revolucionario con nuestro diseño, nuestra cadena de suministro y nuestro sistema de producción”, Tony Gingiss, CEO de OneWeb Satellites. “Nuestro equipo está transformando la industria espacial y estamos demostrando que podemos cumplir nuestras promesas”.

OneWeb Satellites aporta capacidades que reducen drásticamente los costes y reducen los plazos de adquisición, gracias al diseño modular y agilidad en la producción en serie de satélites.

La planta de producción de OneWeb Satellites en Florida es el paso más reciente que ha dado Airbus en su compromiso a largo plazo de continuar aumentando la fabricación, la creación de empleo y la inversión en el país.

Esta fábrica proporcionará, en última instancia, miles de puestos de trabajo y se sumará a la planta estadounidense de aviones A320 situada en Mobile (Alabama), de la que salió nuestro primer avión en 2016. En la misma fábrica de Alabama se pondrá en marcha una línea de montaje del A220 a lo largo de este mes de enero de 2019.

Airbus, con su amplia red de proveedores norteamericanos, es el mayor consumidor de productos aeroespaciales y de defensa procedentes de Estados Unidos en todo el mundo. Sus adquisiciones superan a las de cualquier otra compañía o incluso a las de cualquier nación. Airbus invirtió 16.500 millones de dólares en empresas de estadounidenses en 2017, contribuyendo así al mantenimiento de 275.000 puestos de trabajo en el país.

Airbus entrega el primer módulo de servicio europeo destinado al vehículo Orion de la NASA

Europa suministra sistemas de propulsión y de soporte vital para misiones que llevarán a astronautas más allá de la Luna

Airbus lidera el equipo del proyecto europeo en nombre de la ESA desde Bremen, Alemania

La primera misión marcará en 2020 el inicio de una nueva era en los vuelos espaciales tripulados

Bremen, 2 de noviembre de 2018 – El próximo 5 de noviembre Airbus entregará el primer módulo de servicio europeo (ESM, por sus siglas en inglés) para la nave Orion de la NASA desde su centro aeroespacial en Bremen, Alemania. El ESM será enviado al Kennedy Space Center de la NASA en Florida, EE.UU., a bordo de un avión de transporte Antonov. Se trata del resultado de cuatro años de desarrollo y construcción y supone alcanzar una meta clave en el proyecto. En noviembre de 2014, la ESA seleccionó a Airbus como contratista principal para diseñar y fabricar el primer ESM.

El ESM es un elemento crucial de la cápsula Orion de próxima generación que, por primera vez desde el final del programa Apolo en la década de los 70, llevará a astronautas más allá de la órbita baja terrestre. El módulo suministra propulsión, energía eléctrica y control térmico, y proporcionará agua y oxígeno a los astronautas en futuras misiones. El ESM está integrado debajo del módulo de la tripulación.

“La entrega del primer módulo de servicio europeo a para la cápsula Orion de la NASA supone un hecho de suma importancia y demuestra que la vanguardista misión al espacio profundo de la NASA continúa tomando velocidad. Muy pronto el módulo de la tripulación y el módulo de servicio se reunirán por primera vez en el Kennedy Space Center y podrá iniciarse la fase de integración y pruebas”, ha declarado Oliver Juckenhöfel, responsable de On-Orbit Services and Exploration de Airbus. “Trabajar en el proyecto Orion ha consolidado la relación excepcional, eficiente y cercana con nuestros clientes, la ESA y la NASA, y con nuestro socio industrial Lockheed Martin Space. Tenemos el firme compromiso de seguir reforzando la confianza que la ESA y la NASA ya han depositado en nuestro saber hacer y en nuestra experiencia a la hora de construir el primer ESM. Ya estamos trabajando en la integración del segundo módulo de servicio en nuestras salas blancas”.

El lanzamiento del ingenio espacial Orion con el nuevo cohete Space Launch System de la NASA, lleva el nombre de Exploration Mission-1 y está programado para 2020. Esta misión no será tripulada y llevará a la nave a más de 64.000 kilómetros de la Luna para demostrar sus capacidades. La primera misión espacial tripulada, Exploration Mission-2, está prevista para 2022.

La cápsula Orion está concebida para llevar a los astronautas más lejos de lo que habían ido nunca antes en la historia. El vehículo espacial llevará a los cuatro astronautas al espacio, les proporcionará soporte vital durante el viaje y, además, posibilitará una reentrada segura a la atmósfera terrestre a velocidades de retorno extremadamente elevadas. La NASA utilizará esta misión con destino más allá de la Luna para desarrollar las capacidades necesarias para enviar a humanos a Marte, lo cual inaugurará una nueva era en el campo de los vuelos espaciales tripulados.

En el ESM se integran más de 20.000 piezas y componentes, entre los que se encuentran equipamiento eléctrico, motores, paneles solares, tanques de combustible, materiales de soporte vital y varios kilómetros de cables y tuberías.

El ESM es un cilindro de aproximadamente cuatro metros de altura y de diámetro. Es comparable al vehículo de transferencia automatizado (ATV, por sus siglas en inglés, 2008–2015), también construido por Airbus, y está equipado con cuatro paneles solares distintivos (de 19 metros de envergadura cuando están desplegados), que generan suficiente energía para abastecer a dos hogares. Sus 8,6 toneladas de combustible propulsarán un motor principal y 32 motores más pequeños.

El ESM tendrá una masa de lanzamiento de poco más de 13 toneladas. Además de aportar el principal medio de propulsión a la cápsula Orion, el ESM llevará a cabo funciones de maniobra orbital y del control de actitud. También suministrará los elementos principales del sistema de soporte vital de la tripulación, como agua y oxígeno, y proporcionará control térmico mientras está acoplado al módulo de la tripulación. El módulo de servicio, que no va presurizado, también puede utilizarse para transportar carga adicional.

Durante el desarrollo y la construcción del módulo ESM, Airbus ha aprovechado la amplia experiencia que adquirió como contratista principal del vehículo ATV de la ESA, el cual abasteció regularmente a las tripulaciones de la Estación Espacial Internacional (ISS) de equipamiento para experimentos, piezas de recambio, alimentos, oxígeno, agua y combustible.

Airbus completes the integration of Cheops satellite

ESA’s new exoplanet hunting satellite is on track for launch by the end of the year

Madrid, 03/07/2018 – Airbus has completed the integration of Cheops (CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite), the European Space Agency’s (ESA) first small mission satellite that will carry out an exciting scientific mission, to define the properties of the planets orbiting nearby stars.

Cheops will study these planets using a Ritchey-Chrétien Telescope supplied by the University of Bern, in Switzerland. It was integrated last month at Airbus’ Madrid-Barajas site on the already-finished platform. Following successful integration the spacecraft will be sent to France, Switzerland and The Netherlands for a comprehensive test campaign on 9 July.

The campaign will include a complete set of functional and environmental tests to ensure that the spacecraft is fit for launch. The satellite will then return to Madrid for final functional tests and a final inspection before it is shipped to Kourou, French Guiana, for launch.

The satellite, which is implemented as a partnership between ESA and Switzerland, is on track for launch by the end of the year on a Soyuz rocket from Kourou. The Cheops mission will analyse, for at least three and a half years, the transit of exoplanets as they pass in front of their stars. It will operate from a Sun-synchronous orbit, at an altitude between 650 and 800 km.

Clearing out space junk, one step at a time

An experimental satellite from Airbus’ SSTL subsidiary will test methods of removing orbital debris

Since the start of the space age, mankind has left its mark on the orbital pathways overhead…and not always for the better. Today, some 7,000 tonnes of artificial debris – a mass equivalent to the Eiffel Tower – orbit the planet.

This detritus, ranging from remnants of defunct or broken-up spacecraft to discarded rocket stages, whizzes by at a dizzying 8 km per second – a speed at which even pieces sized at a few centimetres pose significant hazards to space stations and operational satellites.

An experimental spacecraft built by the Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) subsidiary of Airbus and deployed in June 2018 aims to demonstrate innovative debris-removal technologies during the coming months. The spacecraft, named RemoveDEBRIS, was released from the International Space Station and will carry out its Airbus designed-and-built active debris removal experiments, or ADR, in the following nine months.

RemoveDEBRIS, managed by the University of Surrey Space Centre, will test four separate ADR strategies: a capture net, vision-based navigation, a harpoon and a deorbiting drag sail (SSC).

In 1967, there was one man-made object in orbit large enough to be tracked: Sputnik. Fifty years later, there are some 23,000.

Nicolas Chamussy, the head of Airbus Space Systems said: “We have spent many years developing innovative systems to be at the forefront of tackling this growing problem, and to contribute the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals for future generations. We will continue to work closely with teams across the world to make our expertise available to help solve this issue.”

The RemoveDEBRIS satellite’s capture net experiment, developed by Airbus in Bremen, Germany, will see a small cubesat deployed from the main mission craft. After moving away, the cubesat will be targeted by the net and captured at a distance of approximately seven metres. The pair will then naturally deorbit, burning up upon re-entry in the atmosphere. This experiment will take place in September.

The mission’s vision-based navigation (VBN) system, comes from Airbus in Toulouse, France and will be tested in October. Relying on 2D cameras and 3D LIDAR (light detection and ranging) technology, RemoveDEBRIS will precisely track a cubesat deployed from the main spacecraft – observing the target’s rotation and movement away. At the same time, the cubesat will transmit its true position to the main spacecraft, enabling the VBN system’s performance to be measured. This will serve as a precursor to developing orbital rendezvous techniques with space debris. Once the VBN system testing is completed, the cubesat’s trajectory will allow it to deorbit naturally.

Rather than become another piece of space junk itself, the RemoveDEBRIS satellite will re-enter the atmosphere at mission-end.

The RemoveDEBRIS harpoon system, designed by Airbus’ Stevenage, United Kingdom facility, will be launched into a target of spacecraft material fixed to a boom extended from the satellite. Fired at a speed of 20 metres per second, the harpoon will penetrate the target and the experiment will be recorded with high-speed cameras on the spacecraft. The harpoon is slated to be fired in March 2019.

Mindful of the irony inherent in creating a debris-cleaning spacecraft that would itself otherwise become space clutter, RemoveDEBRIS has been designed with a drag sail that will hasten the spacecraft’s demise once its mission is complete. After performing all planned tests, the spacecraft will deploy its drag-inducing sail that will force the craft’s deorbiting in approximately eight weeks – far shorter than the 2.5 years it would require to deorbit naturally. The drag sail concept could be incorporated into future satellites to hasten their destruction via atmospheric re-entry at the end of their operational lifetimes.

RemoveDEBRIS is an international collaboration co-funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7). In addition to Airbus and its Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd subsidiary, this first European effort of its kind involves the University of Surrey Space Centre (UK), French-based ArianeGroup, Innovative Solutions In Space (The Netherlands), CSEM (Switzerland); Inria (France) and the Stellenbosch University of South Africa.

Airbus-built Aeolus wind sensor satellite ready for shipment

First ever satellite able to perform global wind component profile observation

ESA’s Aeolus will provide measurements on a daily basis in near real-time to improve the accuracy of weather forecasts

ESA’s spacecraft Aeolus, built by Airbus is now ready for launch

Toulouse, 05/06/2018 - Aeolus, the European Space Agency’s wind sensing satellite, is now ready for its upcoming launch. It will be shipped across the Atlantic on the Airbus vessel “Ciudad de Cádiz" to Kourou, French Guiana, where a Vega launcher will send it to orbit on 21 August. The instrument is so sensitive that it could be damaged by a sudden loss of pressure. For this reason, air transportation has to be avoided and for the first time Airbus will transport one of its satellites on-board its own vessel.

The 1.33-tonne spacecraft, primed by Airbus, features the first ever space-borne LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) instrument called Aladin, which uses the Doppler effect to determine the wind speed at varying altitudes.

Aladin fires a powerful ultraviolet laser pulse down through the atmosphere and collects backscattered light, using a large 1.5m diameter telescope, which is then analysed on-board by highly sensitive receivers to determine the Doppler shift of the signal from layers at different heights in the atmosphere.

“Aeolus is a world first with break-through technology that will make a huge contribution to weather forecasting on a global scale. Pioneering a LIDAR instrument in Space is quite a challenge – but a great example of what Europeans can achieve when we work together!”, said Nicolas Chamussy, Head of Space Systems at Airbus. 

The data from Aeolus will provide reliable wind-profile data on a global scale and is needed by meteorologists to further improve the accuracy of weather forecasts and by climatologists to better understand the global dynamics of Earth’s atmosphere.

Aeolus will orbit the Earth 15 times a day with data delivery to users within 120 minutes of the oldest measurement in each orbit. The orbit repeat cycle is 7 days (every 111 orbits) and the spacecraft will fly in a 320 km orbit for three years.

Airbus Perlan Mission II

To the edge of space

Perlan Mission II is a purpose-built glider aiming to soar on wind currents to 27.4 kilometres –the stratosphere – as it researches high-altitude flight, climate change and even aviation science related to travel on Mars. As partner of Perlan Project, Airbus is helping push the boundaries of aerospace and discover more about climate change.

Reaching new heights

The Perlan 2 glider plane is essentially a spacecraft with an 84-foot wingspan, engineered to fly in conditions that mirror the surface of Mars. But before it can reach its record-breaking goal of soaring to 90,000 ft (27.4 km), the Perlan Project team has first made few test runs much closer to Earth. These trials began on 23 September 2015 at the Redmond Airport in Redmond, Oregon, when the glider succesfully completed its first ever test flight. 
 
In July 2017, Airbus Perlan Mission II launched its second season of flight testing in El Calafate, Argentina. This Patagonian region is one of a few places on earth where a combination of mountain winds and the polar vortex create the world’s highest “stratospheric mountain waves” – rising air currents that Perlan pilots believe can eventually carry their experimental aircraft to the edge of space. 

As  partner of the Perlan Project, Airbus is lending its technical expertise, as well as financial support.

Learning valuable lessons

At 90,000 feet, the Perlan 2 must be engineered to fly in less than 3% of normal air density and at temperatures of -70°C. The mission will harvest invaluable data for scientists worldwide to help update and improve existing climate models.

The Perlan glider plane will investigate the interaction between the troposphere, the lowest layer of the Earth’s atmosphere, and the layer above it, the stratosphere, as well as collecting data on the depletion of the ozone layer, which filters out harmful UV rays. The Airbus Perlan Mission II will also gain experience in very high altitude flight, an area of interest for Airbus for future aerospace applications.

Inspiring through science

Uncharting unknown territory—that’s every scientist’s dream,” says Chief Meteorologist Dr. Elizabeth Austin. It’s with Austin’s expertise that the perfect brew of climactic conditions has been determined to help launch the Perlan II up into the stratosphere. Very little is known about the stratosphere because there have been no aircraft that can remain at level flight at altitude long enough to gather data.

As the glider flies toward its goal of 90,000 ft, atmospheric science experiments and research on ozone depletion and climate change can be conducted.

Onboard flight and weather sensors are planned for the Perlan 2, and partner high schools and universities has submitted cube-sat experiment proposals to be carried onboard the craft. Students may measure things like winds, UV, temperature, ozone, even take biological samples.

Wisdom begins with wonder

“A major aspect of the Airbus Perlan Mission II is to inspire young people to go into STEM subjects because they see that you can do cool stuff with it,” says Perlan Project board member Stéphane Fymat. “The heyday of the US space programme was so inspiring, and when it slowed down, a lot of people were left wanting. Now, they’re the ones getting involved in innovative aerospace endeavours like ours.”

“We’re going to have multiple masters’ and PhD students writing their meteorological, aviation and aeronautical engineering theses on this project. The Perlan Mission’s longevity is extended thanks to their research of those shaping aerospace’s future.” Elizabeth AustinPerlan Project Chief Meteorologist.

SpaceDataHighway starts full Copernicus service

The Airbus-operated SpaceDataHighway has begun regularly relaying data from the Sentinel-2A satellite, after the successful end of the commissioning period. This marks the start of the SpaceDataHighway service using all four Copernicus Sentinel satellites and the beginning of a new era for space-based imagery users.

The first two sets of Earth-observing Copernicus Sentinels-1A and -1B and -2A and -2B are signed up to this service as SpaceDataHighway’s anchor customers under an agreement between the European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA) as owners of the Copernicus programme, and Airbus as the owner and commercial operator of SpaceDataHighway.

Since using the SpaceDataHighway, the Sentinel-1 constellation has increased the amount of data it produces by about 50%. The service is also able to bring operational added-value to Sentinel-1 users by greatly improving the data timeliness for observations outside Europe. This is an important asset for users, especially when it comes to the routine monitoring of remote areas in the domain of maritime applications or assessment of natural disasters and first line response for emergency.

The SpaceDataHighway is the world’s first “optical fibre in the sky” based on cutting-edge laser technology. It will be a unique system of satellites permanently fixed over a network of ground stations, with the first - EDRS-A - already in space. Each day, it can relay up to 40 terabytes of data acquired by observation satellites, UAVs and manned aircraft, at a rate of 1.8 Gbit/s.

The relay satellites are designed to lock on to low-orbiting satellites via laser and collect their data as they travel thousands of kilometres below, scanning Earth. SpaceDataHighway then immediately sends the collected data down to Europe from its higher position hovering in geostationary orbit, acting as a go-between. This process allows the lower satellites to continuously downlink the information they are gathering, instead of having to store it until they travel over their own ground station. That way, they can send down more data, more quickly.

The SpaceDataHighway is a public–private partnership between ESA and Airbus, with the laser terminals developed by Tesat-Spacecom and the DLR German Space Administration. EDRS-A, the first SpaceDataHighway relay satellite launched in January 2016, offers coverage from the American East Coast to India. A second satellite will be launched in 2018. It will double the system’s capacity and extend the coverage and redundancy of the system. Airbus is willing to expand the SpaceDataHighway with a third node, ERDS-D, to be positioned over the Asia-Pacific region.

Space Exploration Masters competition is highlighted at the ILA Berlin air show

Contest participants are challenged to identify sustainable concepts for space travel and off-world habitation

For Airbus’ robust presence at this week’s ILA Berlin air show, the strong tie-in to its space-related activities extends to new horizons with a focus on planetary exploration and the creation of life-sustaining environments far from planet Earth.

In partnership with industry-leading companies Air Liquide and Merck KGaA, Airbus is a sponsor of the Space Exploration Masters – a contest to identify technological and business concepts for space travel and logistics, including orbital or planetary fueling capabilities, as well as farming to provide food, water and air purification at remote destinations. Just as on Earth, resource sustainability is the key to long-term survival in space, with sustainable energy storage and recovery processes being crucial to enable long journeys and human habitats upon arrival.

Space-exploration-masters-contest

Space Exploration Masters contest participants are to be judged on a mixture of their proposal’s level of innovation and viability, taking into account technological feasibility and risks.

Prizes include travel to the awards ceremony at the Space for Inspiration conference at Bilbao, Spain (in October 2018), the ability to receive technology and business support in fine-tuning the proposal pitches, and the opportunity to present the winning idea to venture capitalists at the Moon Economic Forum in Luxembourg (November 2018).

Airbus has shipped SES-12 highly innovative satellite to launch base

Built for leading operator SES, it is the largest and most powerful all-electric satellite ever

Toulouse, 12 April 2018 – The SES-12 all-electric communications satellite, built by Airbus for SES, has been shipped from the Airbus Defence and Space facilities in Toulouse, France, to Cape Canaveral, Florida.

SES-12 is the largest and most powerful all electric satellite ever produced. It is based on the highly reliable Eurostar platform in its E3000e variant, which uses electric propulsion for orbit raising (EOR). The related mass saving enables SES-12 to combine two high-capacity missions, equivalent to two conventional satellites, in one satellite.

To fulfill its dual mission, SES-12 features both wide beams and high throughput spot beams to serve diverse connectivity needs.

The communications payload incorporates state-of-the-art solutions, in particular multi-beam antennas linked to a digital signal processor, which enable a multitude of basic spectral channels to be allocated to various beams in a completely flexible manner.

The satellite will provide expansion and replacement capacity to serve the data, mobility, government and video sectors in the Asia-Pacific region.

SES-12 will operate in the Ku and Ka-bands with a total of 76 active transponders and eight antennas. It will have a launch mass of 5,400 kg and an electrical power of 19 kW. It will operate in geostationary orbit at the 95° East location and has been designed to remain in service for more than 15 years.

Airbus further strengthens its Earth observation imagery portfolio with the addition of TripleSat satellite data

Toulouse, 10 April 2018 – Airbus has entered into an agreement with Twenty First Century Aerospace Technology Co. Ltd (21AT), the Chinese commercial satellite operator, for the distribution of the images acquired by their TripleSat constellation.

The TripleSat constellation consists of three identical very high-resolution Earth observation satellites set 120° apart, travelling around the same orbit. They offer daily monitoring of any place on Earth revealing details as small as 80 centimetres. The satellites were specifically designed to map large area coverage and will therefore reinforce the Pléiades and SPOT satellite capacities, improving access to information in critical situations.

On the optical side, Airbus’ constellation already comprises the very high-resolution Pléiades 1A and 1B, the high-resolution SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 satellites as well as the DMC constellation. On the radar side, weather-independent satellites such as TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X were recently joined by the PAZ radar satellite. The constellation is also reinforced by satellite partners such as KazEOSat. These partnerships complement the offering and service for demanding applications.