Space Systems

RazakSAT^®

RazakSAT^®, a satellite development technology programme initiated by ATSB^®, an organization under the Ministry of Finance and supervised by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation is entrusted to manufacture and develop satellites and application of space-related technologies. The manufacture and launch of TiungSAT-1 in the year 2000, proved that ATSB^® has successfully acquired the necessary skills and expertise to construct and launch a satellite into space. With the knowledge gained, ATSB^® moved on to build RazakSAT^® - an achievement recorded for Malaysia as the world 1^st remote sensing satellite launched into the Near Equatorial Orbit (NEqO) on 14 July 2009.

RazakSAT^® was named after the second Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Abdul Razak (known as the Father of Malaysian Development) by the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Mahathir Mohamad.

RazakSAT^® is a cost-effective 180kg mini satellite capable of high resolution Earth Observation imaging. The design and manufacturing process of this satellite follows the exacting and rigorous established standards of spacecraft engineering. Using these standards, the RazakSAT^® has passed through the phases of Engineering, Qualification and Flight Models development.

The spacecraft optical payload has the ability to take 2.5 meter resolution panchromatic (black-and-white) and 5 meter resolution multispectral (red, green, blue and near-infrared) images of the Earth. RazakSAT^® will orbit the Earth fourteen times a day, thus providing ample imaging opportunity for the targeted area.

RazakSAT^® can provide an image with 2 pixels accuracy with ground control point (GCP). The RazakSAT^® is targeted to orbit the earth at 685km altitude with 9^o inclination. It will serve the timely needs of Malaysian experts and users in remote sensing for various applications.

RazakSAT^®satellite images can be exploited for the following applications:

· Agriculture

· Landscape Mapping

· Forest Biomass

· Urban Planning

· Road Network Planning

RazakSAT^® Image Receiving & Processing Station (IRPS)

The RazakSAT^® IRPS has three main subsystems:

(i) Antenna and RF subsystem (ARS)
(ii) Receiving and Archiving Subsystem (RAS), and
(iii) Search and Processing Subsystem (SPS).

ARS performs the following:
i) tracking the RazakSAT^®
(ii) receiving RazakSAT^® X-band downlink signals, and
(iii) demodulation and bit-synchronization of RazakSAT^® signals.

IRPS

Figure 1

Figure 1 shows the system hardware configuration for receiving RazakSAT^® data. The X-band signal from RazakSAT^® shall be tracked and received by the Hexapod antenna. The signal will then be amplified and down-convert to Intermediate Frequency (IF) before ingested to High rate Data Receiver (HDR) for demodulation of QPSK signal and bit synchronization. Digital output from HDR will be ingested b RAS for recording and real-time display.After preprocessing in RAS, RazakSAT^® data will be transfer to a RAID in SPS for archiving, image product generation and web-based catalogue browsing.

InnoSAT

ATS-10 Satellite Bus Systems Developed by ATSB^® and experimental payloads developed by 4 local universities:

UNIMAP (Universiti Malaysia Perlis)

Attitude Control System (ACS)
To develop Satellite Attitude Conteol Systems Algorithms: Adaptive Fuzzy Logic Controller and Adaptive Parametric Black Box.

USM (Universiti Sains Malaysia)

Space Experimental Attitude Determination Sensors and solar Panel Sun Sensor (SEADS & SPSS)
Pyramid sun sensor, magnometer, and solar panel sensory system to detect and compute body rate and attitude of Satellite.

UTM (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia)

Wireless Sensor Network Payload for InnoSAT Satellite

To develop a Wireless Sensor Network that is operated from a remote location whose data is accessed via InnoSAT and transferred to the main station.

Spaceborne Global Positioning System (GPS) Receiver for Autonomous Precise Timing, Positioning, and Navigation
To develop a satellite navigation and positioning system based on GPS

Calibration System Development

Imaging satellites are complex and precise marvels of engineering. Yet, the raw images collected by these satellites require extensive post processing so as to yield data that is meaningful. Among the prerequisites of successful post processing is the availability of calibration data of the imaging systems of the satellites. Among the many specialised equipment is the precise radiometric calibration equipment being developed by ATSB^® that would enable RazakSAT and other similar imaging satellites to be calibrated for local applications.

Secondary Payload Adapter Separation System (SPASS)

The Secondary Payload Adaptor and Separation System (SPASS) Programme is a development for the Falcon 1 multi-satellite carrier. SPASS provides cost effective, rapid integration ride share for science, technology and education payloads to space.

The SPASS is versatile, scalable structure with standardized interfaces, and its own "smart" and configurable deployment electronics. The first satellite platform carried by SPASS is RazakSAT^®.

ATSB Spaceborne GPS Receiver

The ATSB^® Spaceborne GPS Receiver is a spacecraft orbit determination and timing subsystem designed for cost-effective LEO applications. It provides GPS standard time, position, and velocity measurements in a compact and low power unit at low cost. The Spaceborne GPS Receiver is supplied with "out-of-the-box" firmware suitable for its intended application in space.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) employs a constellation of 24 operational satellites, 4 in each six orbital plane, inclined at 55° with respect to Earth's equatorial. The satellites have an average altitude of 20,200 kilometers and complete one orbit in approximately 11 hours 56 minutes. The orbits are chosen so that there will always be at least four satellites that can be visible at every location.

MAC - Medium-sized Aperture Camera

MAC, a high resolution electro-optical pushbroom camera is an imaging payload for remote sensing satellites. MAC offers extensive applications such as agriculture, environmental, exploration, forestry, mapping, transportation, utilities, management and civil government uses.