Beyond Gravity has delivered key payload components for the ESA’s Celeste project aimed at making existing satellite navigation systems more accurate and resilient. The first demo satellites were launched into space on March 28. Beyond Gravity wants to further extend its payload offerings.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is embarking on a demonstration mission of 11 satellites in orbit to test and demonstrate the benefits of an additional layer of PNT (positioning, navigation and timing) in low Earth orbit. This will further improve the accuracy and responsiveness of Europe’s satellite navigation system, even during jamming and spoofing attacks. Celeste demonstrates how this additional layer can complement the resilience, security and precision of the European navigation system Galileo.
The first two demonstration satellites of the new Celeste navigation mission were launched into space on March 28.
“Key electronics for the Celeste satellite payload are provided by Beyond Gravity,” said Oliver Grassmann, chief operating officer at Beyond Gravity. “Expanding our payload capabilities is a top priority, as we continue to deliver high‑performance solutions for diverse missions — including radio occultation, reflectometry, electronic signal intelligence, and positioning, navigation, and timing.”
Kurt Kober, vice president, Electronic Solutions at Beyond Gravity, highlights the company’s key contributions to Celeste. “We play an important role in this mission and supply cutting-edge technology for digital signal generation and the clock for the satellite instruments,” Kober said. “These components ensure high reliability of the navigation signals as well as time accuracy and stability.”
Apart from the payload components, the company also supplied highly sensitive antennas. ESA has chosen Beyond Gravity as a key payload partner for Celeste alongside the Spanish space company GMV (prime contractor) and OHB in Germany.
Making Galileo more secure
The new Celeste navigation satellites in low Earth orbit will demonstrate how an additional layer in a low-earth orbit around 500 km could complement the larger Galileo navigation satellites at an altitude of around 23,000 kilometers and make them more secure. This new satellite mission is known as Celeste, ESA’s first initiative in Low Earth Orbit PNT (LEO-PNT).
The in-orbit demonstrator phase for Celeste is being executed by two European consortiums in parallel and will comprise a total of 11 satellites plus one spare. GMV, as one of the prime contractors, is responsible for the complete end-to-end mission, including system definition and design, the space and ground segments, the user segment and operations, for 6 of the demonstrator satellites.
Importance of satellite payloads
The payload comprises those elements of a satellite that perform its actual task, in the case of Celeste the creation and transmission of navigation signals. “We have already delivered important satellite instruments, like our radio occultation weather instruments, and a reflectometer payload,” Kober said. “We also supplied payload elements in the field of signal generation for the European satellite navigation system Galileo. This expertise has been incorporated into the Celeste project.”
Kober sees satellite payloads as an important area for future business. “We want to play a greater role in this core area of satellites, the payload.”
Modular payload solution
With its FoX electronics platform, Beyond Gravity offers a flexible and modular solution that can host different payloads. Examples for such possible payloads include electronic signal intelligence (ELINT), which can be used for detecting and characterizing radar signals, or a PNT (positioning, navigation, timing) payload.
Other possible payloads from Beyond Gravity are its radio occultation and reflectometry instruments as well as high-resolution earth observation images (optical payload from a third-party supplier).
The FoX electronics platform, together with the payloads selected for the customer, can be easily integrated into Beyond Gravity’s satellite platform (multi-purpose platform), which successfully passed its Preliminary Design Review and is now undergoing intensive tests.
