Enabling technologies for multi-application Satellite: Alignment Campaign Definition

This work is entirely based on the study of the Satellite alignment measurements, with the purpose of producing and developing the specifications necessary for the implementation of the alignment campaign for PLATiNO program, starting from system and satellite requirements. The project was launched and is financed by ASI (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana), whose goal is the definition and development of national enabling technologies for a standard ”multi-purpose” platform, in order to support its potential future lines of activity. Alignment measurements are led during the Satellite AIT (Assembly, Integration and Test) Campaign and they are crucial to verify the correct position of units within the constraints established by the requirements, and to confirm it after the environmental test campaign. In this context, the alignment campaign is applied atplatform level and involves some critical units of the Communica??tion System and Attitude and Orbit Control System (i.e. reaction wheels, star trackers, antenna). The work opens up with a description of the general rules governing a Space product, with reference to ECSS normatives related to planning, verification and testing. Furthermore, to introduce the specific terminology, the platform is described in terms of components and subsystems as well as overall functions and missions. Then, the main activities carried out during the campaign are described and include: 1. Analysis of measurement methods and technologies: units have been stud??ied in their structure and position for understanding the most suitable way to take measurements; 2. Selection of the instrumentation necessary for the realization of the mea??surements: different types of instruments have been analyzed in terms of accuracy, maximum admissible error and setup issues to address the instrument choice; 3. Preliminary set-up defintions, with considerations about set-up costs and overall timing of the alignment campaign. With the continuation of the alignment activities, the campaign will see: 1. Definition of the measurement and acquisition setup; 2. Structure of the measurement campaign with the definition of the AIT Plan and the implementation of the AIT Activity Flow.