Tag: RUAG Space

RUAG Space partners with UAE’s MBRSC on satnav services

The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center builds and operates Earth observation satellites. (Photo: MBRSC)

The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will use a RUAG Space GNSS navigation receiver to determine the position of its new satellite. Founded in 2006, MBRSC is home to the UAE National Space Program.

RUAG Space’s LEORIX receiver will precisely determine the satellite’s position in orbit, with an accuracy of about 1 meter. The high accuracy is achieved through simultaneously processing of multi-frequency signals from GPS and Galileo satellites.

The LEORIX receiver from RUAG Space. (Photo: RUAG Space)

Based in Switzerland, RUAG Space offers three types of space-hardened navigation receivers. The LEORIX for low Earth orbit, the GEORIX for geostationary Earth orbit and the PODRIX for precise orbit determination are all based on the European Space Agency’s latest GNSS processing technology.

The PODRIX receiver had its maiden flight to space in November 2020 and precisely determines the position of the European environmental satellite Sentinel-6. The LEORIX receiver flew for the first time in space in March 2021. In total, more than 80 receivers of the latest receiver generation (LEORIX, GEORIX and PODRIX) have been ordered by customers in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the United States. They will be launched for different low-Earth and geostationary orbit missions within the next months and years.

The MBRSC builds and operates Earth observation satellites, offering imaging and data analysis services to clients around the world. The center launched the first Emirati-made satellite, KhalifaSat, in 2018, and the DubaiSat-1 and DubaiSat-2 satellites in 2009 and 2013 respectively. MBRSC is also responsible for the Emirates Mars Mission Hope probe, the first Arab interplanetary mission, which is collecting data from the Red Planet.

October 19, 2021
RUAG Space provides GNSS-equipped computer for space debris removal
Launched in March, the ELSA-d satellite will demonstrate space-debris removal this summer. (Image: Astroscale)

RUAG Space has provided its GNSS-equipped computer to command Astroscale UK‘s ELSA-M Servicer, a spacecraft designed to remove space debris.

Space debris is a growing concern for the space industry. End-of-life services by Astroscale (ELSA) — a spacecraft decommissioning service for satellite operators — will progress to a commercialization phase this year with the ELSA-M. The M stands for multi-client servicer.

The Astroscale ELSA-M spacecraft is designed to de-orbit multiple retired satellites in low Earth orbit, which will then burn up on atmospheric re-entry.

“The ELSA-M servicer will be optimized to remove multiple retired satellites from low-Earth orbit in a single mission,” said John Auburn, managing director of Astroscale UK and group chief commercial officer. The ELSA-M servicer is specifically designed for servicing constellation satellites, such as those launched by GNSS authorities or by the global satellite communications network OneWeb.

The computer from RUAG Space will include a GNSS receiver and interface unit. Based on RUAG Space’s constellation On Board Computer (cOBC), the computer controls the ELSA-M spacecraft, enabling repeated multi-debris removal maneuvers and management of equipment, reaction wheels and magnetometers linked to it. The cOBC is designed to be a flexible off-the-shelf computer with high integration and short lead time, enabling high-volume manufacturing.

The computer system developed in partnership with RUAG Space — with software from Astroscale and hardware from RUAG Space — will support the rendezvous between Astroscale’s servicer spacecraft and the client spacecraft, a retired or defunct satellite.

The GNSS receiver in the RUAG Space Computer is entirely from RUAG Space, including the NavRIX Integral antenna, which is integrated into the computer. The single-frequency GNSS receiver is capable of processing GPS and Galileo signals and offers several real-time positioning performance options ranging from 20-m 3D rms (root mean square) to better than 1-m 3D rms.

Photo: RUAG Space

Specs of the cOBC’s GNSS receiver
- Tracks GPS L1 C/A or Galileo L1B / L1C signals and provides position, velocity and time
- Accuracy down to a maximum error of 3.5 m RMS 3D with use of dynamic filtering
- Pulse per second (PPS) time error < 1 μs RMS
- Operation with or without external LNA
June 30, 2021
South Korean satellite uses navigation receiver from RUAG Space

Photo: RUAG Space

On March 20, a South Korean Earth Observation satellite will be sent to space, carrying a navigation receiver from RUAG Space to determine the satellite’s position in orbit. The Earth Observation satellite is being launched by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), South Korea’s space agency.

The precision single-frequency low Earth orbit GNSS receiver, called LEORIX, is a GPS + Galileo receiver from RUAG Space’s new generation of receivers.

More than 80 RUAG Space receivers of the latest generation (LEORIX for Low Earth Orbit, GEORIX Geostationary Orbit and PODRIX) have been ordered by customers in Asia, Europe, Middle East and the United States. They will be launched for various low and geostationary Earth Orbit missions within the next few months and years.

Currently, 22 navigation receivers from RUAG Space are in orbit. The satellite CAS-500-1 will be launched aboard a Russian Soyuz-2 launch vehicle from the spaceport in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

After the launch of CAS-500-1, South Korea plans to send the CAS500-2 satellite to space. A launch date of this second mission is not yet defined. The CAS500-2 mission also will fly with a LEORIX receiver from RUAG Space. The satellite builder — Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) — already has received the space-borne navigation receiver.

PODRIX in Space

Since November 2020, two new Precise Orbit Determination Receivers (PODRIX) from RUAG Space have been in orbit. They determine the position of ocean-monitoring satellite Sentinel-6.

The PODRIX GNSS spaceborne receiver achieves a very high, real-time in-orbit accuracy of the satellite’s position in orbit from below one meter to a few centimeters using on-ground post-processing. The high accuracy is achieved through simultaneously processing of multi-frequency signals from GPS and Galileo.

PODRIX GNSS spaceborne receivers are built on the experience of the more than 20 GPS-only receivers of the RUAG Space legacy receiver generation now in orbit.

The receivers precisely determine the position of a satellite once in orbit, which improves the satellite’s performance. Sentinel-6 measures the sea level on a global scale with unprecedented accuracy, which is crucial for climate change research. Every millimeter or centimeter in further precision highly improves the performance of the mission. The more precise the Sentinel-6 spaceborne GNSS receiver from RUAG Space works, the more precise are the data of this climate mission.

RUAG Space is a supplier to the space industry in Europe, and has a growing presence in the United States. It develops and manufactures products for satellites and launch vehicles, playing a key role both in the institutional and commercial space market. RUAG Space is part of RUAG International, a Swiss technology group focusing on the aerospace industry.

March 23, 2021