Qualification tests for the Upper Cylinder and Lower Assembly of the ROSE-L (Radar Observing System for Europe at L-band) satellite, with the Upper Cylinder and Lower Assembly supplied by INVENT GmbH, were successfully completed. These critical structural tests were supervised by SAB’s structural engineers alongside MAIT engineers.
The tests were done together and under the auspices of experts from Brno University of Technology (BUT) (Vysoké učení technické v Brně), Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the testing laboratory of the Institute of Aerospace Engineering. The Upper Cylinder underwent a compression test with a load of 32.5 kN and a tensile test with a load of 50 kN. For the Lower Assembly, a compression load of 461 kN was applied. These tests are essential for simulating the extreme conditions that the satellite components must endure during their mission in space.
ROSE-L satellite structural model is currently in the integration phase at SAB facilities. ROSE-L Mission is developed in the frame of the Copernicus programme funded by European Space Agency – ESA and European Union.
The ROSE-L satellite’s primary objective is to provide critical data for monitoring forest type and cover, aiding in biomass estimation. Additionally, it will collect valuable information on soil moisture, vegetation, and land ice. The mission will also play a crucial role in automatically mapping and monitoring sea and land ice, contributing significantly to climate change research. The prime contractor for European Space Agency – ESA is Thales Alenia Space Italy.
Stay tuned for further updates on the progress of ROSE-L.
Many thanks to the SAB Aerospace team working on testing procedures namely: David Krzikalla, Rodrigo Araluce, Andrej Ondák. Also many thanks to BUT representatives Ivo Jebáček, Marek Horák, František Vaněk, Zdeněk Teplý for participation in the evaluation and general support on testing.
Program of the European Union co-funded with ESA.
Views and opinion expressed are however those of the author(s) only and the European Commission and/or ESA cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
