Celesta, the first CERN-driven satellite, successfully entered orbit during the maiden flight of Europe’s Vega-C launch vehicle. Launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) from the French Guiana Space Centre on July 13, the satellite deployed smoothly and transmitted its first signals in the afternoon.
Weighing one kilogram and measuring 10 centimeters on each side, Celesta, a CERN latchup and radmon experiment student satellite, is a 1U cube satellite (cubesat) designed to study the effects of cosmic radiation on electronics, a CERN news release said.
CERN stands for the French “Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire,” or European Council for Nuclear Research.
The cubesat carries a Space RadMon, a miniature version of a well-proven radiation monitoring device deployed in CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.
Celesta has been sent into an Earth orbit of almost 6,000 kilometers.
“Right in the middle of the inner Van Allen belt, Celesta will survey an unusual orbit where radiation levels are at their highest,” explained Markus Brugger, head of the CERN Experimental Areas group and initiator of both the Cern High energy AcceleRator Mixed-field (CHARM) facility and Celeste projects in the context of the Radiation to Electronics (R2E) initiative.
The Space RadMon is a flagship example of how CERN technologies can have applications beyond particle physics experiments.
“Based entirely on standardized, ultra-sensitive components selected and calibrated by CERN, and mostly in CERN facilities, the Space RadMon is a lightweight and low-power instrument, ideal for future risk-tolerant space missions,” said Ruben Garcia Alia, R2E project leader.
“If Celesta is successful, the Space RadMon could even be adapted to satellite constellations as a predictive maintenance tool—to anticipate the necessary renewal of satellites,” Alia said
A radiation model of the Celesta satellite was also tested in CHARM, a CERN mixed-field facility capable of reproducing, to a large extent, the radiation environment of low Earth orbit.
The mission will be an important validation of this capability at the facility.
“Capable of testing satellites all at once, rather than component by component, CHARM is a unique installation worldwide, remarkably different from other irradiation test facilities. It offers a simple, low-cost alternative and the possibility to assess system-level effects,” said Salvatore Danzeca, CHARM facility coordinator.
The success of the satellite is the result of a fruitful partnership between CERN and the University of Montpellier, which involved many students from both institutions and radiation effect specialists from CERN, the news release said.
Celesta is based on the Custom Space User Management (CSUM) radiation tolerant platform. It will be operated from the CSUM control centre. The European Space Agency provided the launch slot in the framework of its small satellite program.
“On a mission to make space more accessible, Celesta is an exciting example of how CERN expertise can have a positive impact on the aerospace industry,” said Enrico Chesta, CERN’s Aerospace and Environmental Applications Coordinator in the Knowledge Transfer group.
“With this mission, CERN displays its low-cost solutions for measuring radiation and testing satellites against it—thus providing universities, companies and startups with the means to realise their space ambitions,” Chesta said.
Image credits: CERN