Proba-1 Facts and figures
Editor's note: This page was last updated on 18 May 2009
10 OCT. 2002
Date de publication
528
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Editor's note: This page was last updated on 25 May 2009
The Project for On-Board Autonomy (Proba) is a technology demonstration mission of the European Space Agency, funded within the frame of ESA’s General Support Technology Programme. It is managed by ESA’s Control and Data Systems Division within the Department of Electrical Engineering, part of the Directorate for Technical and Operational Support at ESA/ESTEC.
Work on the project began in mid-1998 and Proba was successfully launched on 22 October, 2001, initially for a one-year mission.
Proba objectives
The objectives of Proba are:
in-orbit demonstration and evaluation of new hardware and software spacecraft technologies
in-orbit demonstration and evaluation of onboard operational autonomy
in-orbit trial and demonstration of Earth observation and space environment instruments
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Proba mission
A high degree of spacecraft on-board autonomy, together with ground-station automation, considerably reduces the need for ground operations. Proba aims to use and demonstrate automatic functions, both onboard and in the mission ground segment.
Proba onboard automatic functions include:
nominal operation and resource management
computation and control of camera pointing and scanning from raw inputs from users (target latitude, longitude and altitude)
payload operations scheduling and execution
data communications management
Proba ground-segment automatic functions include:
spacecraft pass operations
spacecraft performance evaluation
high-level user requests to spacecraft via Internet
The spacecraft's commissioning phase has been successfully completed and payload data are being provided to users. Images are also processed by ESA to demonstrate the high stability and pointing accuracy of the spacecraft.
On the basis of the in-orbit data received, an extension of the operational mission beyond the nominal one year is planned.
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Proba users
Users of the Proba satellite to date include:
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Proba payloads
Editor's note: This page was last updated on 18 May 2009Proba carries onboard several Earth observation and space environment scientific instruments. In view of the project’s aim to demonstrate technology, several platform elements and systems have also been included as technology experiments.The Proba development approach includes several innovative aspects. A design-to-cost approach was adopted according to European Cooperation for Space Standardisation category 3 project classification. This involved using COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) equipment and units; simulation-based development, verification and testing; automated software generation; extensive use of test and operations infrastructure commonalities; and a highly integrated ESA-industry design and development team.Extensive use is made of automated functions onboard the spacecraft. Full onboard flight dynamics computation, in conjunction with automated ground segment functions such as pass automation and high-level user interfaces, satisfy the spacecraft autonomy requirements.Automated functions onboard handle nominal spacecraft operations, plan and schedule activities, and manage payload resources. Onboard flight dynamics include orbital navigation as well as computation and control of instruments, camera pointing and scanning in order to meet user-defined targets (latitude, longitude and altitude).
Proba contractors
Altogether 18 major contractors throughout Europe and in Canada have been involved in developing Proba and its instruments.Links to their sites can be found on the right.
ESA’s small Proba satellite celebrates five years in space
On 22 October 2001, Proba was launched as a technology demonstrator within ESA’s General Support Technology Programme. Once in orbit, however, the small satellite’s unique capabilities and performance made it evident that it could make big contributions to science and so its nominal lifetime was extended to serve as an Earth Observation mission.
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