European Student Moon Orbiter - Technical Facts

Technical Facts

The table below provides an overview of the spacecraft platform and the ground segment.

Subsystem Description
Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS) 3-axis stabilized: 2 star trackers, 4 sun sensors, 2 inertial measurement units, 4 reaction wheels, 8 cold gas thrusters
On-board Data Handling 2 ESA LEON2 processors (dual redundant) running data handling software (command timeline and simple FDIR) and ADCS software; 32 MB Serial Flash for payload data storage; CANbus data interfaces
Communications Low Gain Antennas for omni-directional coverage; S-band transponder with PSK-PM modulation and range & range rate capability for radio-navigation; 8 kbit/s downlink / 4 kbit/s uplink between Moon and Earth stations
Power Body-mounted 3J GaAs solar cells for 170 W beginning of life power & 122 W end of life power; 24-29 V unregulated bus; 1800 Wh capacity Li-ion batteries
Propulsion 4 liquid MON/MMH bipropellant thrusters: 22 N thrust each, 285 s specific impulse (modulated by AOCS software during burns for reaction control)
Structure CFRP/Al honeycomb construction box with load bearing central thrust tube
Thermal Control Passive: MLI & surface coatings; active: local heaters for eclipse (e.g. propellant tanks)
Ground Segment Ground stations: 25m S-band dish in Raisting and 15m S-band dish in Villafranca; Perth/Kourou for launch and early orbit phase and manoeuvres

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