Phases of ANP nearspacecraft mission

Development

The development of a nearspacecraft, ground equipment and mission flight plan includes at least following tasks:

• Sub-component acquisition and development (nearspacecraft, recovery and ground equipment)

• Software development (avionics and ground equipment)

• Telemetry system development (hardware, licenses and communication protocols)

• Mechanical design
  

• Definition of flight readiness assessment criterias

• Generic mission planning and documentation

• Assembly
  

• Approval from FCAA (Finnish Civil Aviation Authority) 

Testing

To ensure safe and successful mission the developed hardware and mission plans must be extensively tested.

Testing tasks include:

• Individual sub-component testing

• Complete system tests (all sub-components) 

• Test flights with limited equipment on-board

• Flight operation training

• Review of flight readiness assessment criterias

• Review of mission flight plan

 Continuous testing is also done during the development phase.

Mission flight 

A complete mission flight operation for ANP nearspacecraft is estimated to take 1-2 days. This is includes launch preparation, launch, flight and recovery.

Estimated total in-flight time from lift-off to touchdown will be between 4-6 hours depending on mission payload, weather conditions and technical considerations.

The nearspacecraft will be launched from Hankasalmi Observatory operated by Sirius Astronomical Association (Jyväskylä, Finland). The event will be webcasted online. The launch site selection was based on following considerations:

• Distance to nearest sea or land border (geographical location)

• Availability of launch facilities

Launch preparation

Pre-launch operations include:

• Nearspacecraft preparation

• Ground equipment setup

• Flight readiness assessment (weather, hardware and safety)

Launch

After successful preparations and flight readiness assessment, the nearspace will be launched.

Ascend

During ascend phase the nearspacecrafts avionics focus on mission payload functions. If any problems arise the ascend phase is terminated with the ECD.

Descend

Descend phase begins once the nearspacecraft has reached its maximum altitude or the ECD has been activated.

 

During descend phase the nearspacecrafts parachute is deployed and its avionics focus on navigation, maintaining communication link with ground station and touchdown preparation.

 

Few minutes before touchdown the nearspacecrafts avionics will activate its recovery beacons (audible and radio) to assist ground recovery operation.

Recovery 

Once the nearspacecraft has landed the launch team will locate it based on telemetry received in-flight. The landed nearspacecraft continue transmitting its location telemetry until it has been successfully recovered. 

 

Analysis 

After the mission flight following data will be analyzed:

• Telemetry logs 

• In-flight navigation logs

• In-flight avionics logs 

• Mission payload data 

 Reports and mission payload data will be published online on this website.