BEESAT

Project Facts

Project Name	Verifikation of miniaturized Reaction Wheels for Picosatellites (Microwheels II) – BEESAT
Contact Person	Dipl.-Ing. Frank Baumann
Funded by	Federal Ministry for Economy and Technology
Grant No.	50 JR 0552

During the Microwheels II project three objectives were pursued:

Verification of miniaturized reaction wheels in the space environment
Test of a novel satellite bus system
Power scope improvement of pico- and nanosatellites

In the preceding project Microwheels, reaction wheels were newly developed, which were successfully tested in a low Earth orbit. As testbed, the picosatellite BEESAT was designed with a mass of less than 1 kg and manufactured and verified at TU Berlin

On 23rd September 2009 BEESAT was launched aboard the Indian launcher PSLV-C14 into a sun-synchronous orbit (altitude ≈730 km, inklination 98.3°).

Since then, numerous experiments have been conducted with the reaction wheels. Satellite operations and data evaluation are also conducted at TU Berlin. The originally scheduled mission duration of one year was exceeded by more than 3 years - BEESAT is still operational today. The satellite's telemetry provides valuable data, not just with regard to technical testing of the reaction wheels in orbit.

With the achievement of the stated objectives, important contributions to the creation of a reliable system standard for future pico- and nanosatellites for different applications have been made.

Publications

Trowitzsch, S.; Baumann, F.; Barschke, M.; Brieß, K. (2013). Lessons Learned from Picosatellite Development at TU Berlin. 2nd IAA Conference on University Satellite Missions and CubeSat Workshop, Rom (Italien), 4.–9. Februar.
Baumann, F.; Trowitzsch, S.; Nitzschke, C.; Brieß, K. (2012). BEESAT – A CubeSat Series Demonstrates Novel Picosatellite Technologies. 4th European CubeSat Symposium, Brüssel (Belgien), 30.1–1.2.
Baumann, F.; Trowitzsch, S.; Nitzschke, C.; Brieß, K. (2011). BEESAT – Two Years of Flight Experience. 5th Pico and Nano Satellite Workshop on Technology for Small Satellite Research, Würzburg, 22.–23. September.
Brieß, K.; Baumann, F.; Herfort, M.; Trowitzsch, S. (2011). Present and Future Picosatellite Missions at TU Berlin. 8th IAA Symposium on Small Satellites for Earth Observation, Berlin, 4.–8. April.
Baumann, F.; Trowitzsch, S.; Herfort, M.; Nitzschke, C.; Brieß, K. (2011). BEESAT Flight Results. 1st IAA Conference on University Satellite Missions and CubeSat Workshop, Rom (Italien), 24.–29. Januar.
Baumann, F.; Brieß, K.; Herfort, M.; Trowitzsch, S.; Nitzschke, C. (2010). Flight Experience with the Picosatellite BEESAT. 59. Deutscher Luft- und Raumfahrtkongress (DLRK), Hamburg, 31.8.–2.9.2010, 1083–1090.
Baumann, F.; Trowitzsch, S.; Brieß, K.; Nitzschke, C. (2010). BEESAT – Flugergebnisse und Folgemissionen. Workshop Pico- und Nanosatellitenaktivitäten in Deutschland, Berlin, 8. Juni.
Baumann, F.; Gester, D.; Herfort, M.; Trowitzsch, S.; Brieß, K. (2010). BEESAT – First Flight Results of the Berlin Experimental and Educational Satellite. Small Satellites Systems and Services Symposium (4S Symposium), Funchal, Madeira (Portugal), 31.5.–4.6.
Baumann, F.; Kayal, H.; Brieß, K. (2009). BEESAT – A Fault-tolerant Picosatellite Approach. 7th IAA Symposium on Small Satellites for Earth Observation, Berlin, 4.–8. Mai.
Kayal, H.; Baumann, F.; Brieß, K. (2008). BeeSat – A pico satellite of TU Berlin for the in-orbit verification of miniaturised wheels (IAC-08-B4.4.B10). 59th International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Glasgow (Schottland), 29.9.–3.10.
Kayal, H.; Baumann, F.; Brieß, K.; Montenegro, S. (2007). BeeSat: A Pico Satellite for the On Orbit Verification of Micro Wheels. 3rd International Conference on Recent Advances in Space Technologies (RAST), Istanbul (Türkei), 14.–16. Juni.
Kayal, H.; Baumann, F.; Brieß, K. (2007). Beesat – A Pico Satellite for the In-Orbit Verification of Miniaturised Wheels. 6th IAA Symposium on Small Satellites for Earth Observation, Berlin, 23.–26. April.
Herfort, M.; Berlin, M.; Geile, H.-P.; Yoon, Z. (2007). BeeSat Attitude Determination and Control System. 6th IAA Symposium on Small Satellites for Earth Observation, Berlin, 23.–26. April.
Kayal, H.; Brieß, K.; Renner, U. (2007). Small Satellites from Berlin. 3rd Asian Space Conference, Singapur, 21.–23. März.
Baumann, F.; Brieß, K.; Kayal, H. (2006). Untersuchung von Sensoren zur Lagebestimmung in Picosatellitenplattformen. Publikationen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photogrammetrie, Fernerkundung und Geoinformation (DGPF), Band 15, 311–318.
Trowitzsch, S.; Baumann, F.; Birke, H.; Grewe, R.; Kayal, H.; Richter, D. (2006). TUPEX – An Experimental Sounding Rocket Payload for Evaluation of Pico Satellite Technologies. Space Technology Education Conference (STEC), Braunschweig, 9.–12. Mai.
Kayal, H.; Brieß, K. (2005). Pico and Nano Satellite Technologies at the Technical University of Berlin (IAC-05-B5.6.B.03). 56th International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Fukuoka (Japan), 16.–21. Oktober.
Baumann, F.; Brieß, K.; Kayal, H. (2005). Drei-Achsen-stabilisierte Picosatellitenplattform für Fernerkundungsaufgaben. Publikationen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photogrammetrie, Fernerkundung und Geoinformation (DGPF), Band 14, 461–466.

Press

Berliner "Winzling" umrundete 5300 mal die Erde (24.9.2010) [more...]
Achter TU-Satellit im All (12.10.2009) [more...]
Achter Satellit der TU Berlin erfolgreich ins Weltall gestartet (23.9.2009) [more...]
Picosatellit BEESAT erfolgreich getestet (20.9.2007) [more...]
Im Weltraum geschnuppert (5.4.2006) [more...]