The European Space Agency Tender

Objective: The Objective Of The Activity Is To Develop A Fine Tracking System With Reduced Complexity And Size. The Fine Tracking Of Optical Communication Terminals Shall Be Based On Rx-fibre Or Rxbeam Nutation For Probing The Point Spread Function At The Focal Plane And Will Replace The Need For A Tracking Sensor. Targeted Improvements: Reduce The Size Weight, Power And Cost Of Space Opticalcommunication Terminals By 30%. Description: Nutation Based Fibre Tracking Has Been Demonstrated On Nasa's Lunar Atmospheric And Dust Environmental Explorer (ladee) Satellite. The Technique Replaces A Tracking Sensor And Thereby Reduces The Size, Weight, Power, And Complexity Of Future Optical Communication Terminals. Hence This Activity Will Develop A Tracking System Based On Fibre Nutation Suitable For Space-borne Optical Communication Terminals. Experimental Testing Will Be Carried Out To Fully Evaluate The Developed Concepts. The Main Engineering Tasks Include: - Design Of A Spatial Acquisition And Tracking System Where At Least The Latter Is Based On A Fibre Nutation Approach.- Development And Testing Of An Elegant Breadboard (ebb) Of The Spatial Acquisition And Tracking System Including Its Control Electronics (hardware And Software).