SpaceTech CESS (Coarse Earth Sun Sensor)
SpaceTech GmbH
Passive thermo-optical Coarse Earth and Sun Sensor providing spacecraft attitude information during de-spin and safe mode.
Typed specifications32 values
Discloses 5 of 8 fields engineers filter by in this category (category median 4).
- Accuracy
- 7.3 ° Earth 68% · datasheet p.2 25 ° Earth 99.9% | 19 ° Earth 99% | 4.4 ° Sun 68% | 13 ° Sun 99.9% +7
- Mass
- 80 g datasheet p.2 80 g CESS head | 80 g exact
- Envelope (L×W×H)
- 108 x 42 x 58 mm³ datasheet p.2
- Output type
- analog thermistor readout by 12-bit ADC or higher · datasheet p.3
- Operating temperature
- -175–150 °C operating · datasheet p.3
- Design lifetime
- 15 years datasheet p.2 15 years lifetime (storage 5 years)
- TRL
- 9 TRL 9 / 8 (improved HW) · datasheet p.3
- Sensor class
- coarse Coarse Earth and Sun Sensor, passive safe-mode sensor · datasheet p.2
- Connector
- 26 Pin HD D-Sub Connector datasheet p.2
- Survival temperature
- 5 °C datasheet p.2
- Random vibration
- 50.3 g RMS qual., in all axes · datasheet p.3
- Flight heritage
- GRACE, CHAMP, CryoSat-2 datasheet p.1 CHAMP, GRACE, Terra-SAR-X, TanDEM-X, Paz, CryoSat-2, SWARM
- Quasi-static load
- 100 g exact, sine (in all axes) · datasheet p.3
- Shock qualification
- 2 000 g qual., >= 1500 Hz · datasheet p.3 25 g qual., 25 Hz | 2 000 g min · peak
- Sensing element
- other two thermo-optical sensor areas read by 6x Heraeus M222 PT100… · datasheet p.3
Each value is typed with its unit and measurement condition and cites the datasheet page it was taken from. Nothing is guessed: a field that is absent here has not been published by the manufacturer. machine-extracted ✓ checked by NewSpace Market ✓ manufacturer confirmed by the manufacturer.
As published by the supplier7 lines, in the manufacturer's own wording
- Sensor principle
- Passive thermo-optical Coarse Earth and Sun Sensor
- Power consumption
- Zero power consumption
- Configuration
- 6 orthogonally accommodated CESS heads to determine relative earth and sun vector
- Standard hardware deliverable
- 6 flight model + 2 spare CESS heads incl. protective caps
- Software deliverable
- Flight S/W algorithm
- Options
- Customer specific acceptance testing; mission specific mechanical interfaces; AIT support; performance/thermal in-orbit simulator
- Flight heritage
- CHAMP, GRACE-FO, TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X, Paz, CryoSat, SWARM, Sentinel-6
About
The SpaceTech Coarse Earth and Sun Sensor (CESS) is a passive sensor that provides spacecraft orientation information at any time, which is crucial for spacecraft deployment, de-spin and survival in safe mode. A set of 6 orthogonally accommodated CESS heads is used to determine the relative earth and sun vector: the sensor performs continuous measurement of the temperatures of all black and mirror reference surfaces, extrapolates the temperatures to steady-state, estimates the irradiated infra-red and solar flux for both black and mirror OSR via their respective alpha and epsilon values, and deduces the IR (solar) flux imbalance for opposing CESS heads to construct the earth (solar) vector. Because it is a fully passive device, the CESS requires zero power consumption while remaining robust, lightweight and easy to accommodate on the spacecraft structure. The CESS has extensive flight heritage and has been used in numerous successful LEO missions including CHAMP, GRACE-FO, TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X, Paz, CryoSat and Sentinel-6.
Documentation
Need the full ICD, test reports or a specific revision? Ask the supplier directly.