Space

An extensive experience in optical technology sets Galileo Avionica at the leading edge of space sensor development. With 350 sensorsdeployed in over 90 space programs by European, Asian and American customers, Galileo Avionica is a world leader in the supply of Earth, Sun, Stars, Autonomous Star Trackers and Navigation Sensors, offering standard and custom configurations.

Star Trackers Family  Galileo Avionica has developed a family of multipurpose and fully autonomous star trackers to provide attitude data and motion rate of satellite. Galileo Avionica Autonomous Star Trackers are based on a radiation hardened design and proprietary algorithms that ensure accurate and robust 3-axes attitude determination in all types of mission. Galileo Avionica Star Trackers accumulated an excellent in-flight heritage, demonstrating accuracy exceeding the required performance of few arc seconds as well as high reliability and tracking robustness under severe radiation environments.

A-STR - Autonomous Star Tracker  Medium Field of View CCD based Star tracker leveraging over 20 years of experience in star tracker development. Most recent successes include flying on board Messenger and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and on spinning spacecrafts such as New Horizon. More than 30 flight units have been delivered to Customers all over the world. A-STR uses a common design for a broad range of missions delivering an off-the-shelf, readily available product. All A-STR operations are executed under microprocessor control by means of mission dependant SW modules with in-flight reprogramming capability. more information.pdf (261 KB)

AA-STR - APS Autonomous Star Tracker  New generation, medium FOV star tracker based on a rad-hard Active Pixel Sensor (APS) detector. The AA-STR (ITAR free) highly compact, lightweight and low power delivers an accuracy comparable to that of the CCD based star trackers, beginning a new age for star trackers that will dominate the future satellites AOCSs. The AA-STR design offers exceptional robustness under harsh conditions (launch loads, protons,..). The AA-STR has been selected as the standard star tracker for the next generation of the European TLC-GEO platform (ALPHABUS). more information.pdf (262 KB)

Navigation Cameras  A multipurpose CCD based Navigation Camera is currently guiding the ESA Rosetta Spacecraft toward the comet 67P/ Churyumov Gerasimenko to support acquisition and tracking of point like sources and extended objects ranging from ? 2 to +11 magnitude as well as to allow full frame image acquisition. A state-of-the-art, compact and modular navigation camera based on APS technology is now available, and can be tailored to different mission needs, offering significant reductions in mass, power consumption and costs. Galileo Avionica also designed and developed the ERA-CLU cameras (Camera and Lighting Unit) for the European Robotic Arm of the International Space Station. The ERA-CLU is equipped with a laser diode illuminator. more information.pdf (403 KB)

S3 - Smart Sun Sensor  Two axes solar sensor with low mass and consumption, based on a radiation hardened APS detector. S3 has been developed and qualified for Earth Observation and GEO Telecommunication spacecraft. The S3 is also suitable for Interplanetary missions (up to 50AU) and for spinning spacecraft (up to 100rpm). With a large dynamic range providing medium/high accuracy, and wide FOV, S3 combines the tasks traditionally performed by both Fine and Coarse Sun sensors. An ITAR free version is also available. more information.pdf (210 KB)

IRES - Infrared Earth Sensor  With close to 20 years of flight proven experience, the Galileo Avionica Earth sensors have been deployed in over 35 programmes. IRES is a two axes Earth horizon sensor for attitude control of 3-axes stabilized GEO spacecraft. Operating principle is based on electromechanical modulation of the radiation coming from the Earth horizon in the 14÷16.25 µm band based on bolometers. IRES consists of an optical head and processing electronics in a single housing for the two axes measurement. Full performance Pitch and Roll are computed inside the sensor by means of a dedicated ASIC. An ITAR free and lower cost configuration based on pyroelectric detectors (IRES-N2) is also available with the same interfaces as IRES-NE. IRES-NE has been selected as the baseline earth sensor for the Galileo constellation. more information.pdf (198 KB)