Visit at ESTEC Begins the Polish Work on an ESA Project
Consultation visit at the ESTEC, the largest European space technology centre, was the first step taken by the Astri Polska engineers, involved in the FLIGhT project. The job assigned to the Polish company by ESA concerns software design, regarding a system which would make it possible to test the European GNSS satellite navigation receivers. The project is to last for 15 months, it is valued at the level of PLN 650 thousand.
On 12th September this year, the employees of the Satellite Applications and Services division of the Astri Polska company have met the ESA representatives at the ESTEC (European Space Research and Technology Centre) facility, which is the largest space-technologies-dedicated centre in Europe. The meeting concerned a project assigned to a Polish company, which was tasked with development of testing software for the GNSS satellite navigation system receivers. The initiative, the value of which is said to reach 650 thousand zlotys, is going to involve the Astri Polska company for the next 15 months.
The goal of the FLIGhT (Flexible environment for GNSS Testing) initiative is to design and create flexible software that would make it possible to generate a test environment for the GNSS receivers, especially the receivers that could be used in space applications. The main assumption adopted is to make the software universal, allowing for testing of a variety of receivers. FliGhT project is being pursued and financed by the ESA, and the funds are provided within the scope of the Polish Industry Incentive Scheme.
ESTEC research facility belonging to ESA is located in Noordwijk, in the Netherlands. Here, ESA is working on most of its flagship programmes. During a meeting inaugurating the FLIGhT programme, Astri Polska team has met the ESA representatives. The meeting’s purpose was to discuss the detailed assumptions concerning the final product.
At the moment, alongside the FLIGhT programme, Astri Polska is also inviolved in another two projects in the area of satellite navigation, implemented for ESA. These are: TecHNO (Test Environment for Hybrid NavigatiOn) - a project tied to development of hybrid navigation technologies (GNSS+LTE) and AGGA-4, in case of which Astri Polska would be tasked with verifying the radiation profile of the GNSS satellite navigation receiver in conditions with heavy ion and proton radiation. Earlier, within the period between 2015 and 2016, Astri Polska has been dealing with the FLIRT - PL (Fitting LIon Receiver Tests in PoLand) project, the goal of which was to test the GNSS “LION” receiver dedicated to be used with research, EO and telecommunication satellites.