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BIROS

Brief Description

The small satellite BIROS is part of the FireBIRD mission. It is based on the small satellite bus TET-1. The payloads are contributions of several DLR institutes. The satellite bus is enhanced by functionalities required by the Firebird mission. The orbit is a formation flight in conjunction with the TET-1. This enables the repeated monitoring of a region of interest within a short period.

Project Description

As its primary payload, BIROS has an infrared sensor system to monitor high temperature events. The sensor system is identical to the system currently in orbit on TET-1. Further payloads are provided by various DLR institutes.

Fig.: FireBIRD Logo

These are:

• Optical downlink for fast transmission of scientific data (PrOSIRIS)
• Nitrogen propulsion system for orbit maneuvers
• Separation mechanism for picosatellites
• BeeSat developbed by TU Berlin with GPS receiver as payload
• A communication subsystem for the communication between BeeSat and BIROS
• On-board planning experiment software for the mission operation
• Experiment Avanti to control a near formation fly with BeeSat (In-Orbit-Service Experiment)
• High agile attitude maneuvers to allow within one data take 
  • monitoring multiple regions of interest
  • broaden the region of interest
  • monitoring several independent regions of interest

Fig.: TET-1 and BIROS constellation

DLR Simulation and Software Technology Tasks

In addition to the software configuration management of the on-board software, software adaptations of the attitude and orbit control subsystem (AOCS) are performed. These consist of:

• Integration of a propulsion subsystem
• Integration of a 4-quadrant-sensor to locate a laser buoy
• Integration of three high torque wheels
• Additional features in the software interface to the star tracker
• Provide a software interface between AOCS and the Avanti experiment to access
  • the star tracker
  • the propulsion subsystem
  • the controlled attitude mode
• Extend the attitude modes by
  • pointing at laser buoys
  • orbit maneuvers
  • commanding by Avanti 
  • high agile maneuvers

Project Partners

• DLR Institut for Optical Sensor Systems
• DLR Space Operations and Astronaut Training

Project Runtime

2012-2017

BIROS is launched at 22/07/2016.