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EHP Heat Pipes on CAS500

Source: https://www.kari.re.kr/eng/sub03_02_03.do#link

KARI is developing the CAS500-1 system, to meet the public needs for satellite images efficiently, to expand the domestic satellite industrial base, to cultivate related industry, and to promote satellite exports.

CAS500 satellite

CAS500 series will adopt the medium-sized standard platform which will be developed for the CAS500-1 system. It will save the time and cost for the development considerably. And domestically developed payloads, such as electro-optical cameras, microwave probes and hyper-spectral imager will be installed on the standard platform.

CAS500 program is divided into phase I and phase II. In phase I, 500kg class standard platform will be developed. And two 0.5m resolution electro-optical satellites (CAS500-1 and CAS500-2) will be developed by using that platform.

While developing the CAS500-1 system, KARI will transfer the satellite technologies accumulated over the years to the domestic industry and the CAS500-2 whose specification is identical to that of CAS500-1, will be developed by domestic industry.

The CAS500-1 will be launched in 2019 and CAS500-2 in 2020.

The CAS500 can be easily commercialized as it can be developed in a relatively short period of time at a low cost compared to medium to large sized commercial satellite. In addition to that, by developing multiple satellites in a short time and operating them simultaneously, it will help satisfy various public needs for earth observation and reduce the observation interval.

EHP has been selected by i3system, Inc. (http://www.i3system.com/eng/index.html) to provide the heat pipes (AG060) for the thermal regulation of the Focal Plane Assembly (FPA).

Focal Plan Assembly (FPA) with EHP AG060 heat pipes
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Very High Throughput Satellite Ready to Pump Heat

Source : http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Telecommunications_Integrated_Applications/Very_High_Throughput_Satellite_ready_to_pump_heat

Thales Alenia Space has delivered the first Spacebus Neo payload module structure, including the first ever Mechanically Pumped Loop (MPL) to be mounted on a telecommunication satellite designed for 15 years of in-orbit service. It will be flown on the SES-17 satellite that is due to start service operations in 2021.

Telecommunication satellites generate substantial amounts of heat that need to be harvested from the payload and spread over large radiators, where it dissipates into cold space. Conventionally, the hottest units are placed right onto the radiators. This relatively simple scheme reaches its limits when the payload becomes more demanding, as is the case for recent Very High Throughput Satellite (VHTS) missions proposed by several satellite operators.

The MPL is made of a network of pipes and a mechanical pump, which circulates a refrigerant fluid to collect heat wherever it is created and transport it to the radiators. This makes it possible to maximise use of the available surface inside the satellite, to accommodate the repeaters required for large VHTS missions.

MPL-based thermal control opens a completely new way to design, manufacture and test high-capacity, digitally processed telecommunication satellites.

Thales Alenia Space, France, developed the thermal control of Spacebus Neo satellites under ESA’s programme of Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems Neosat Partnership Project and the French PIA (“Programme d’Investissement d’Avenir”).

The Partnership Project has helped to derisk partners’ investment by developing this disruptive technology and thereby achieve a competitive leap forward in the highly dynamic VHTS satellite market. This was achieved thanks to the combined expertise and excellent collaboration of Thales Alenia Space, ESA, the French Space Agency CNES and SES, the customer of the SES-17 satellite. 

Spacebus Neo module with its novel thermal control system.

EHP contributes to this development as the provider of new generation of heat exchanger.

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CSO Launch with EHP LHP² based Thermal Bus

Arianespace conducted its final launch of 2018 on Wednesday, following a scrub – due to strong winds at the launch site – on Tuesday. The launch used a Soyuz rocket to deploy a high-resolution imaging satellite for the French military. Soyuz lifted off from the Centre Spatial Guyanais – near Kourou, French Guiana.

Wednesday launch deployed CSO-1, the first of three satellites that will form the Composante Spatiale Optique (CSO), or Optical Space Component. These spacecraft will serve the French military, replacing the earlier Helios reconnaissance satellites. To develop the constellation, France’s Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA – Directorate General of Armaments) has entered into a partnership with the national space agency, CNES.

Airbus Defence and Space is the prime contractor for the three CSO satellites, which are based around its AstroSat-1000 platform. Each satellite has a mass of 3,565 kilograms (7,859 pounds) and is expected to operate for at least ten years. The imaging systems were produced by Thales Alenia Space. From sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of about 800 kilometers (497 miles, 432 nautical miles), CSO-1 is expected to be able to image the Earth at resolutions of about 35 centimeters (14 inches).

CSO-1 is the first satellite in France’s third generation of reconnaissance satellites, following on from two pairs of Helios spacecraft.

On board CSO-1, three complete thermal bus using EHP macro loop heat pipe (LHP²)  which will permit the instrument to function in its optimal performance.

Source : https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/12/arianespace-soyuz-st-cso-1-launch/

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EHP heat-pipes on Aeolus European satellite

Equipped with a high precision laser, this high-tech machine must allow a serious leap forward in weather forecasts, but also in climate science.

The small Vega launch is preparing to launch this Tuesday from Kourou, French Guiana, the European satellite Aeolus, a high-tech machine designed to measure wind worldwide as part of the Copernicus Earth Observation Program to measure winds from space, Aeolus will experiment with a whole new technology based on a high-performance laser (Lidar for Light Detection and Ranging), that will distinguish the lower layers of Earth’s atmosphere (up to 30km height) to produce vertical wind profiles and gather information about aerosols and clouds. This revolutionary instrument, called Aladin (Atmospheric LAser Doppler Instrument), demanded more than 6 years of development and is equipped with a HP thermal BUS, developped by EHP with the support of Airbus DS NL, that enables an optimised thermal control of the LIDAR.

Today’s daily weather forecasts already contain wind information, including probe balloons and field probes. However, the direct measurements are too fragmentary. Scientists and meteorologists need accurate data on the winds periodically to understand the systems that affect weather and climate and improve their forecasts.

Aeolus will be the first satellite to provide them with this information. The prestigious NASA had developed an instrument based on the same technology for its ICEsat satellite.

The information thus collected will make “not only a serious leap forward in the weather forecasts, but also contribute to long-term climate research”,

A subsidiary of Airbus

The satellite was built by Airbus Defense and Space. A Belgian subsidiary of Airbus, the company EHP, established in Nivelles, was involved in the project. Earlier spin-off of ULB and Sabca, EHP (Euro Heat Pipes) specializes in thermal space control space technology. It provides thermal control equipments based on two-phase heat transfer principles.

Aeolus is part of the European Union Copernicus Program. Copernicus’s ambition is to create a system for monitoring and understanding the environment similar to those found for meteorology. The program includes 6 satellite families (radar image, optical, altimetry, chemical analysis, etc.) dedicated to observing land and sea, as well as monitoring the composition of the atmosphere.

This European Earth observation program will generate a phenomenal amount of environmental data. Due to its long-term character, Copernicus must allow the development of downstream services, which the current scientific satellites do not allow.

Source : https://vaaju.com/belgiumeng/aeolus-european-satellite-will-track-land-winds/

©ESA

 

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Airbus Defense and Space, a subsidiary of the Airbus group, has become the majority shareholder (51%) of Euro Heat Pipes (EHP).

This is a spin-off of the French-speaking Free University of Brussels (ULB). This was announced on Monday by Theodorus, the ULB investment fund. The Walloon region now holds 49% via SRIW (the Regional Investment Company of Wallonia) and Sogepa (the French state-owned body investing in European aerospace).

EHP was born of the collaboration, initiated in 2001, of the Faculty of Applied Sciences in ULB, and Sabca (the Belgian aeronautical construction company) to create a laboratory, unique of its kind, based upon microgravity in space. The aim was to create systems and innovations for aeroplane temperature monitoring.

The technology developed by the spin-off involves a cooling system, without using air or any of the aeroplane’s engines. It extracts the heat at source, carries it away and discharges it. The on-board electronic equipment is thus better protected owing to a lower constant temperature. The company says that the reliability of all of the aeroplane’s engines is thus optimised. It further adds that the process is particularly efficient in extreme conditions.

To design, produce and market its inventions, EHP has benefited from the financial support of Theodorus. The investment funds of ULB have acquired 50% of the capital from the spin-off. To enable the project to grow, Airbus acquired an interest in the business, with a shareholding of 16% in 2008. This share will now grow to a total of 51%.

In a few years, the turnover has gone from €2 million to €8 million and the company, based in Nivelles, now employs some 70 employees.

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SES-12 launch

SES-12 equipped with two P-DPS made in EHP was successfully launched to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) on Monday, June 4, 2018 from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

Liftoff occurred at 12:45 a.m. EDT. The SES-12 satellite was deployed about 32 minutes after liftoff.

The DPS arms are clearly visible throughout the live launch stream.