Mission Design of the Dutch-Chinese FAST Micro-Satellite Mission

Abstract

The chapter treats the mission design for the Dutch-Chinese FAST (Formation for Atmospheric Science and Technology demonstration) mission. The space segment of the 2.5 year mission consists out of two formation flying micro-satellites. During the mission, new technologies will be demonstrated and, using spectropolarimeter and altimeter payloads on both spacecraft, observations will be performed characterizing atmospheric aerosols and seasonal variations of height profiles in the cryosphere. The mission is divided into four phases, each with a different orbital geometry. The rationale for and the orbital geometry during these phases as well as the transitions between the phases are treated in detail. A major complication to the mission design is the amount of data that can be sent to the ground. Since only two moderately capable ground stations, one in Delft and one in Beijing, are baselined, as much data processing as possible has to be performed onboard to allow high duty factors for the science payloads. When this is not possible, alternative payload operation modes have to be sought with which maximum scientific data return can be obtained through as little payload operation as possible. Both options are dealt with in the chapter.