Telespazio UK provides highly qualified and dedicated engineering experts to ESA, covering the breadth of ESA missions across all phases lifecycle, encompassing numerous technologies and specialised domains.
Earth Observation
Telespazio UK has been providing highly experienced engineers into the directorate of Earth Observation for many years, working in ground systems, mission performance and validation. This includes the Earth Explorer Missions and the Earth Watch Missions Meteorological Operational (MetOp) and MetOp Second Generation (SG).
In ECSAT, our skilled engineers support the Climate Change office as specialist applications engineers with strong links to universities and international organisations.
RF Systems, Payload and Technologies
Our expertise includes the technically demanding area of microwave radio signal communication between space systems and ground. The domain focuses on everything from the specific radio frequency technologies, equipment and systems on-board the spacecraft to the telecommunication systems which control the RF payloads. Our support covers Telecommunication Missions, Earth Observation Missions, Navigation and TT&C. Our work here has been rewarded by ESA.
Product Assurance
Telespazio UK works within the product assurance team at the ESAC site, whilst also supporting the provision of staff at the ESTEC site. Our sister company in France provides support to EGNOS Product Assurance & Safety Engineering in Toulouse.
These experienced product assurance Engineers are extremely valuable in ESA projects, providing lessons learned and focusing on key elements. They analyse the whole set of requirements for coverage, consistency and gaps, using the European Cooperation for Space Standards (ECSS) as guideline. In ESAC, our software quality assurance staff hold an important function in the mission Science Operations Centres, acting as independent assessors of the software system design, implementation and operations.
Structures, Materials, Mechanisms and Thermal Engineering
The extreme environment exposes satellites to high vacuum, severe temperatures and aggressive radiation, and during launch, a satellite and its elements are susceptible to damage due to high levels of acoustic noise and vibration. Our engineers in this area examine the mitigation required to deal with these stresses. Work focuses on everything from understanding why spacecraft components fail, through the development and qualification of materials and structures that can meet the complex mission requirements, to how to protect spacecraft from thermal extremities.
Software and Control Systems
Software and Control Systems encompass a wide range of system engineering and software engineering activities, both at ground and spacecraft level. They include:
- Software systems focuses on activities supporting the definition and implementation of spacecraft on-board software, and the verification of space systems
- Control systems focused on those activities related to the definition and implementation of attitude and orbit control systems, and guidance and navigation systems.
Telespazio UK is an established developer of major software systems for the space domain and this client-side support complements our PDGS development and processors for a range of missions, flight operations systems deployment and control system development.
Systems, Technology and Concurrent Engineering
Skilled support is provided to ESA at the Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) in ESTEC, where studies concerning the very beginning of a project (a pre-Phase A study) are carried out. The CDF is a tool needing continuous maintenance with periodic updates to the infrastructure according to the new emerging IT technologies. The system engineers support the tasks at ESA to ensure the correct coordination and link of the different models and methods, so that the CDF system produces credible results.