Micro-Satellite – Feasibility Study

The project has developed an advanced concept for a Slovenian Earth observation microsatellite. The motivation for this initiative steams from the recent advances in the area of micro- and nano-satellite technologies which enable cost effective acquisition of local and global data from space. In the first work package a feasibility study of missions that offer the highest potential for remote sensing in Slovenia was performed. This included observation of vegetation, crop prediction, drought detection, monitoring of forest state, human vegetation stress, ecological damage and urban development, detection of legal and illegal dumps, production of digital elevation models, mapping, water body observation, flood detection and following, natural disaster monitoring and predictions as well as damage estimation. For the most feasible and beneficial missions, the micro-satellite concepts was developed in the second work package to achieve desired property combinations with respect to short revisit time, sensor orientation possibility and spectral bands in conjunction with low construction, launch and operation costs of the satellite. The third work package was focused on the innovative design of micropropulsion system to achieve high pointing accuracy and attitude control that are required for advanced remote sensing. In the fourth work package the legal aspects of space missions (radio frequencies, radar signals, lunching permits, de-orbiting conditions, etc.) was assessed in addition to cost benefit and risk analyses.