Abstract
The INFANTE project is a public–private initiative arising from the experience of Portuguese companies and R&D institutes in developing critical subsystems for space missions over the last 20 years. Using such building blocks, TEKEVER leads a consortium of 20+ entities currently developing a technology demonstrator microsatellite for Earth Observation. This paper addresses a set of technical challenges faced in the conceptualization of a satellite-borne SAR, along with new project-level approaches within the framework of new space while managing a large consortium of partners.
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Abbreviations
- ADS-B:
-
Automatic dependent surveillance broadcast
- AIT:
-
Assembly, integration and testing
- AIS:
-
Automatic identification system
- COTS:
-
Commercial off-the shelf
- EO:
-
Earth Observation
- GNSS:
-
Global navigation satellite system
- LEO:
-
Low-earth orbit
- LTAN:
-
Local time of the ascending node
- OBC:
-
On-board computer
- R&D:
-
Research and development
- RF:
-
Radio frequency
- SAR:
-
Synthetic aperture radar
- SDR:
-
Software-defined radio
- SSO:
-
Sun-synchronous orbit
- TMTC:
-
Telemetry and telecontrol
- TRL:
-
Technology readiness level
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Acknowledgements
This article is a result of the project 24534—INFANTE, supported by the Operational Program for Competitiveness and Internationalization (COMPETE 2020) and Lisbon Regional Operational Program (Lisboa 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
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Ferreira, J.P., Andrada, N., Correia, B. et al. Challenges of the SAR-Enabled Microsatellite Concept INFANTE. Adv. Astronaut. Sci. Technol. 5, 167–182 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42423-021-00085-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42423-021-00085-2