Category: Blog
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What are Electrical Ground Support Equipments (EGSE)?
Electrical Ground Support Equipment (EGSE) are tools that are used by satellites & engineers on the ground to test and validate the integral electrical functions of a satellite or a spacecraft before launch. EGSE consists of hardware as well as software elements that are used to conduct tests of the satellite to ensure compatibility of…
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What is an Escape Velocity?
Escape velocity is defined as the speed at which an object travels to break free from the planets or the celestial body’s gravitational force without undergoing any further acceleration. The escape velocity is a crucial parameter to consider when a spacecraft has to be launched into outer space. It is of utmost importance that the…
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What is a Star Tracker?
Star trackers or star sensors are optical devices that are used by satellites as a navigational tool to determine their orientation/attitude to the stars. The positions of stars are measured using a camera, photocells, and other onboard processing systems which identify the images and process the measured position in the reference frame of the spacecraft.…
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Why are Solar Panels used in Satellites & Spacecrafts?
Spacecrafts or satellites that orbit around the earth, near the sun are powered by solar energy. Solar panels are fitted on these satellites or spacecraft and are economical and conserve space and energy. That’s why they are preferred over batteries for operation. Space-based solar panels can generate up to 2000 gigawatts of power constantly because…
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What is an Orbital Velocity?
Orbital Velocity is defined as the minimum velocity at which an object requires to revolve around another object. The objects that revolve around the earth in a uniform circular motion are said to be in an orbit and the orbital velocity is essential to ensure that the object stays in its intended orbit. The inertia…
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What is a Bipropellant Thruster?
A bipropellant thruster is a thruster that uses two propellants (very often liquid propellants) which are kept separately before reacting to form a hot gas to be used for propulsion. Also Read: What is a Power Processing Unit (PPU) for Thrusters? Bipropellant systems require the combustion of two (Bi) propellants. First one is a fuel and the…
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What are Polar Orbits?
Polar orbits are earth-centered orbit that passes through the north-south poles with an altitude of 200-1000 Km above the earth’s surface and have an inclination of about 60-90 degrees above the earth’s equator. They are used for earth-mapping, reconnaissance, and weather satellite applications. A satellite in a polar orbit completes around 15-20 orbits per day…
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What is a Cold Gas Thruster?
A cold gas thruster is a type of propulsion system which uses the expansion of pressurized gas to generate thrust. It consist of a fuel tank, a regulating valve, and a propelling nozzle. The nozzle of a cold gas thruster is generally made of a convergent-divergent shape so that it provides a required thrust in…
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What is an Ion Thruster?
An Ion Thruster is a form of electric propulsion that works on the concept of ionization. This process involves the extraction of ions from the plasma to produce thrust. The ions extracted are accelerated by using electric fields that generate many ion jets together called the ion beam that produces the required thrust for the…
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What is an Highly Elliptical Orbit?
Highly elliptical orbit (HEO) is a satellite orbit that has an altitude of about 1,000 to 35,756 km above the earth’s surface. Satellites in HEO are used for communications, satellite radio, remote sensing, and astronomical observations. A satellite in an HEO orbit takes around 12-24 hours to complete one orbit around the earth. A major…