Sector: In-orbit servicing

Number of satellites: 2 (Free Flyer e Carrier Satellite)

Form factor: 6 U (Free Flyer)

SpEye is a technology demonstration mission aiming at the validation of on-orbit inspection and formation-flying techniques for nano-satellite applications. The project foresees two satellites, a Carrier Satellite and a Free Flyer, a nano-satellite (6 U CubeSat) carried and released by the Carrier Satellite itself. The mission has the goal to demonstrate the Free Flyer capability to carry out the on-orbit inspection and mapping of the Carrier Satellite as a Target, thus to verify the formation-flying and autonomous rendez-vous. For the purpose, the Free Flyer will be able to gather Target images through a multispectral and multipurpose vision system for autonomous navigation and inspection. New technologies will be validated as a Guidance Navigation and Control (GNC) processing unit able to integrate GNSS and electro-optical observations, an Inertial Navigation System (INS) for a robust and accurate absolute and relative navigation, as well as a propulsion system allowing formation-flying and proximity operations.

Proposing team: TSD Space (Prime), D-Orbit, Planetek Italia, T4i, Politecnico di Milano Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Aerospaziali, Università di Napoli “Federico II” Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale