Test evolution: RADARSAT-1 to RADARSAT-2
Test methodology for large spacecraft like RADARSAT-1 and RADARSAT-2 has been modified over the last decade resulting in changes to test environments. These changes in the required test environment have necessitated improvements in the test configuration modelling, instrumentation, and data acquisition systems. This paper will identify the significant changes and how the RADARSAT-2 assembly integration and test program has implemented these improvements.
Assembly, Integration, and Test Methods for Operationally Responsive Space Satellites
Abstract : Current government and industry standards in spacecraft testing result in an Assembly, Integration, and Test (AIT) timeline greater than six months. These standards will not support the vision of Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) to deploy a satellite within six days to fill an urgent need. Using the Air Force Research Laboratory's Plug-and-Play Satellite (PnPSat), multiple Rapid AIT trials were conducted. By exercising the AIT process with various spacecraft configurations and personnel, methods for reducing or modifying traditional testing regimen were investigated.
RADARSAT (SAR imaging)
RADARSAT, the first Canadian remote-sensing spacecraft, is designed to provide Earth observation information for five years. The satellite is scheduled for launch in 1994. The only payload instrument is a 5.6-cm-wavelength (C-band) synthetic aperture imaging radar (SAR). RADARSAT will gather data on command for up to 28 min during each cycle of its 800-km (nominal) near-polar orbit. Image resolutions from 10 to 100 m at swath widths of 45 to 500 km will be available. The RADARSAT mission is reviewed, and the design, characteristics, and implementation of the radar are introduced. Technical problems addressed include calibration, rapid data processing, the phased array antenna that provides controlled beam steering, and the first satellite implementation of a special radar technique known as ScanSAR. >