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Venus - Image Ground Segment Development

The French National Spce Agency (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales - CNES) commissioned Telespazio VEGA to undertake the development, assembly, installation, and warranty of the VIP (Venµs Image Processing), which is part of the Venµs Image Ground Segment which is installed and operated from CNES' premises in Toulouse, France.

Challenge

The dual Vegetation and Environment monitoring on a New Micro-Satellite (VENµS) Earth Observation satellite mission is a Franco-Israeli collaboration. The scientific mission is under CNES's responsibility, while the technological mission (plasma propulsion for orbital maneuvering and station keeping) is the Israel Space Agency's (ISA) responsibility.

The main characteristics of VENµS are:

  • 12 spectral channels (similar to those of Sentinel-2)
  • High spatial resolution (5 meters) level 2 and level 3 products sampling: 10 meters
  • High revisit frequency (2 days)

 

Value delivered

The main VIP features currently include:

  • Raw data inventory from telemetry and auxiliary data received directly from the Venµs Receiving Kit (VRK)
  • L1 data processing –based on CNES image processing libraries
  • Data archiving and retrieval (of all inventoried and product data)
  • Product Cataloguing – CS-W ebRIM-based web Catalogue
  • Mission programming – mission simulator (offline: VESTALE) and programming follow-up (online: POLCA)
  • Supervision through a web interface

The proposed VIP solution is based on ACS’ existing, generic and configurable ground segment solution which is named the “PDS” (Payload Data System). This main support facility integrates the various VENµS products processing chains.

Based on file type arrival (data driven), the PDS facility triggers processing requests which are handled by the suitable processing facilities:

  • Inventory
  • Level 1 image processing
  • Level 2 and 3 scientific products processing

Within the contract, Telespazio VEGA mainly develops:

  • Software components for image processing from CNES libraries integrated into the L1 processing chain
  • The programming sub-system and catalogue interface (POLCA)

Telespazio VEGA, as a prime, is responsible for the VIP development, assembly, integration, validation and system procurement.