ESA awards euro 34.6 million NanoMagSat contract to Open Cosmos
by Erica Marchand
Paris, France (SPX) Nov 28, 2024
The European Area Company (ESA) has awarded a euro 34.6 million contract to Open Cosmos for the event, launch, and commissioning of the NanoMagSat Scout satellite tv for pc constellation. This mission goals to reinforce Europe’s capabilities in monitoring Earth’s magnetic subject and advancing functions corresponding to house climate evaluation, navigation, and directional drilling.
The NanoMagSat mission aligns with ESA’s FutureEO program, which focuses on leveraging small, agile satellites to ship progressive scientific worth. NanoMagSat, a constellation of three small satellites, is designed to enrich ESA’s Swarm mission by providing enhanced insights into the magnetic subject’s dynamics and the Solar’s affect on Earth’s atmospheric and ionospheric methods.
ESA’s Director of Earth Statement Programmes, Simonetta Cheli, emphasised the importance of this improvement: “At the moment marks a big milestone for the NanoMagSat mission, a constellation of three small satellites. Aligning with the fast improvement timeline set for Scout missions, the primary NanoMagSat is scheduled to launch by late 2027, adopted by the opposite two satellites in 2028. We stay up for working with Open Cosmos and the commercial consortium to fulfill this formidable schedule.”
Open Cosmos, serving because the prime contractor, will lead a consortium involving companions from throughout Europe, together with COMET-Aerospace in Spain, CEA-Leti in France, the Technical College of Denmark, the College of Oslo in Norway, the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, and Universite Paris Cite in France.
Rafel Jorda, CEO and co-founder of Open Cosmos, famous the mission’s technological and scientific significance: “The NanoMagSat mission represents a big leap ahead in house know-how and Earth statement. By miniaturising superior devices and using progressive approaches, we aren’t solely pushing the boundaries of what small satellites can obtain, but additionally delivering impactful options for understanding Earth’s magnetic subject and its many functions. Along with our companions and ESA, we’re proud to steer this formidable mission that may ship helpful insights for science and trade alike.”
Every NanoMagSat satellite tv for pc will carry a collection of miniaturised devices, together with an absolute magnetometer and a high-frequency magnetometer mounted on a increase, a Langmuir probe for measuring electron temperature and density, and two GNSS receivers.
The info supplied by NanoMagSat will help important functions corresponding to house climate hazard evaluation, precision navigation, smartphone reference fashions, and the World Magnetic Mannequin. It additionally guarantees to advance analysis in Earth’s magnetic subject dynamics and its interactions with the ionospheric surroundings.
Gauthier Hulot, Principal Investigator and CNRS Analysis Director on the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, commented on the mission’s scientific worth: “The scientific neighborhood is prepared and desirous to exhibit how such a Scout mission can contribute to additional advance our understanding of the advanced dynamics of Earth’s magnetic subject and of the ionospheric surroundings, past the numerous outcomes of the very profitable Earth Explorer Swarm mission.”
Associated Hyperlinks
FutureEO at ESA
Microsat Information and Nanosat Information at SpaceMart.com
