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Adaptable, Multi-Mission Design Of Canx Nanosatellites, Stuart Eagleson, Karan Sarda, Stephen Mauthe, Tarun Tuli, Robert Zee
Adaptable, Multi-Mission Design Of Canx Nanosatellites, Stuart Eagleson, Karan Sarda, Stephen Mauthe, Tarun Tuli, Robert Zee
Small Satellite Conference
Through the development of a low-cost, 5 kg multi-mission nanosatellite bus at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies’ Space Flight Laboratory, a number of new and interesting applications are now possible on a nanosatellite platform. Two ventures currently underway that adopt the multi-mission nanosatellite bus are an astronomy mission, CanX-3 (also known as the BRight Target Explorer - BRITE), and a dual-satellite formation flight mission, CanX-4/5. CanX-3 is a space telescope that will monitor long-term light fluctuations from the brightest stars in our galaxy to study stellar structure and galactic evolution. CanX-4/5 will demonstrate precise formation flight by …
Disco – Develop Inertial Spin Created On-Orbit: A Magnetic Spin-Rate Controller For Starshine 4, Jonathan Lovseth, Richard Schultz, Gil Moore, Chris Mccormick, Brian Giesinger, Warren Wambsganss, Nicholas Hulst
Disco – Develop Inertial Spin Created On-Orbit: A Magnetic Spin-Rate Controller For Starshine 4, Jonathan Lovseth, Richard Schultz, Gil Moore, Chris Mccormick, Brian Giesinger, Warren Wambsganss, Nicholas Hulst
Small Satellite Conference
The “Develop Inertial Spin Created On-orbit (DISCO)” magnetic spin-rate controller was designed to maintain a 5°/second spin-rate for the three-year mission of the STARSHINE 4 microsatellite. This subsystem was designed, built, and tested by University of North Dakota electrical engineering students, with support from Broad Reach Engineering, an aerospace hardware development firm. The primary mission of STARSHINE, or the Student Tracked Atmospheric Research Satellite for Heuristic International Networking Experiment, is to learn about orbit degradation caused by atmospheric response to solar extreme ultraviolet radiation. This is accomplished by tracking orbit times using a highly-visible satellite that has a known ballistic …
A Gps-Based Attitude Determination System For Small Satellites, Daniel Gershman, Kristopher Young, Anders Kelsey, Ofer Eldad, Jason Rostoker, Shan Mohiuddin, Alessandro Cerruti, Mason Peck
A Gps-Based Attitude Determination System For Small Satellites, Daniel Gershman, Kristopher Young, Anders Kelsey, Ofer Eldad, Jason Rostoker, Shan Mohiuddin, Alessandro Cerruti, Mason Peck
Small Satellite Conference
This paper presents a novel, GPS-based attitude determination system (ADS). Carrier-phase differential GPS (CDGPS) accurate to within centimeters enables magnetometer-level pointing accuracy. Employing three GPS antennas allows for the determination of three independent baseline vectors, which can be combined to yield a precise attitude solution. Both simulation data for a satellite in LEO and terrestrial field test data suggest subcentimeter level accuracy, yielding an instantaneous pointing accuracy of approximately 2 degrees. This high precision makes possible numerous navigation-sensitive applications, such as in-orbit inspection, construction, or repair. Such technology offers many advantages to a small satellite system. Most significantly, a GPS-based …
Single Event Effects (See) Mitigation Of Reconfigurable Fpgas, David Czajkowski, Manish Pagey, Murat Goksel, David Bozek
Single Event Effects (See) Mitigation Of Reconfigurable Fpgas, David Czajkowski, Manish Pagey, Murat Goksel, David Bozek
Small Satellite Conference
This paper discusses the application of Space Micro‘s Time-Triple Modular Redundancy (TTMR™) and Hardened-Core (H-Core™) technologies for mitigation of Single Event Effects in Xilinx Virtex-II field programmable gate arrays (FPGA). TTMR is the application of time and spatial redundancy for mitigating Single Event Upsets (SEU). H-Core is an auxiliary rad-hard chip used for mitigating Single Event Functional Interrupts (SEFI). These technologies have been proven to perform in proton radiation environments and are presently the driving force behind our powerful rad-hard computers built from COTS processors. These same technologies with a few modifications have been applied to mitigate SEUs, configuration upsets, …
Fpga Based Attitude Control System Architecture For Increased Performance, Georg Grillmayer, Marc Hirth, Felix Huber, Viola Wolter
Fpga Based Attitude Control System Architecture For Increased Performance, Georg Grillmayer, Marc Hirth, Felix Huber, Viola Wolter
Small Satellite Conference
For micro-satellites the required attitude accuracy, agility and autonomy along with desired parallel processing of payload images in real-time needs to be achieved within limited power and computational resources. Providing fast, parallel execution while still small in hardware size and modest in power consumption field programmable gate array (FPGA) based on-board computers (OBC) have the potential to highly increase system performance. The Flying Laptop is a micro-satellite currently under development at the Institute of Space Systems, Universität Stuttgart. The attitude control system together with the on-board navigation system is implemented as hardware in an FPGA. The architecture including the sensors, …
Performance Modelling Of Imaging Service Of Earth Observation Satellites With Two-Dimensional Markov Chain, Wen Chen, Stephen Mackin, Phil Palmer
Performance Modelling Of Imaging Service Of Earth Observation Satellites With Two-Dimensional Markov Chain, Wen Chen, Stephen Mackin, Phil Palmer
Small Satellite Conference
Modelling satellite service systems and analysing the performance statistics systematically will provide a useful guide in designing satellite systems. A Satellite observation service consists of two stagesimage capture and image download. These two stages have been modelled and analysed individually in previous studies, assuming no memory constraint onboard the satellite. It is necessary to integrate two stages in one model with the memory constraint, so that overall system performance can be analysed and the system parameters could be carefully designed to achieve a certain quality of service. In this paper, a two-dimensional Markov chain model is proposed for modelling the …
Overview Of The Xnav Program, X-Ray Navigation Using Celestial Sources , Dave Beckett
Overview Of The Xnav Program, X-Ray Navigation Using Celestial Sources , Dave Beckett
Small Satellite Conference
Satellite navigation systems rely heavily upon the Global Positioning System (GPS). GPS provides unrivaled performance in measurements of satellite ephemerides. Due to the increasing number of GPS system threats other options are now being evaluated, these new technologies are designed to augment or back-up the GPS system and be applied on other deep space missions. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing one such navigation system, referred to as XNAV - “X-ray Source Based NAVigation for Autonomous Position Determination”. Theoretically, this system can use celestial X-ray sources to determine spacecraft attitude and position knowledge anywhere in the solar …
Rapid Manufacturing Of Reconfigurable Satellite Panels With Embedded Electronics, Embedded Thermal Devices, And Novel Structural Features , Quinn Young, Brent Stucker
Rapid Manufacturing Of Reconfigurable Satellite Panels With Embedded Electronics, Embedded Thermal Devices, And Novel Structural Features , Quinn Young, Brent Stucker
Small Satellite Conference
The Center for Advanced Satellite Manufacturing (CASM) at Utah State University has been investigating the use of new, advanced manufacturing technologies for the rapid manufacture of highly capable satellite panels. Using Ultrasonic Consolidation it is now possible to additively manufacture (a.k.a. rapid prototype) aluminum structures with embedded electronics, thermal devices, internal structural features, and fibers. CASM has built and tested embedded USB networks, electronic devices, thermal sensors, heat pipes, optical fibers, and other features within aluminum structures to create intelligent, self-monitoring panels for space applications. This work and its potential for providing rapid reconfigurability and rapid manufacturability for Responsive Space …
Forced Air Convection Thermal Switch Concept For Responsive Space Missions, Andrew Williams, Scott Palo
Forced Air Convection Thermal Switch Concept For Responsive Space Missions, Andrew Williams, Scott Palo
Small Satellite Conference
There has been a growing need in the Department of Defense to make space more responsive and cost effective. Instead of taking years to design and deploy a new satellite, the goal is weeks or even days. To meet this challenge, the methodologies used to design, manufacture, test, launch, and deploy satellites must radically change. One of the most challenging aspects of this problem is the satellite’s Thermal Control System (TCS). Traditionally, the TCS is vigorously designed, analyzed, and optimized for every satellite mission. The ideal TCS for responsive space would be robust and modular with an inherent plug-and-play capability. …
Smartscan – Smart Pushbroom Imaging System For Shaky Space Platforms , Klaus Janschek, Valerij Tchernykh, Sergeij Dyblenko
Smartscan – Smart Pushbroom Imaging System For Shaky Space Platforms , Klaus Janschek, Valerij Tchernykh, Sergeij Dyblenko
Small Satellite Conference
The presented SMARTSCAN imaging concept offers high quality imaging for pushbroom imaging systems even with moderate satellite attitude stability on a sole opto-electronic basis without any moving parts. It uses real-time recording of the actual image motion in the focal plane of the remote sensing camera during the frame acquisition and an a posteriori correction of the obtained image distortions on base of the image motion record. Exceptional real-time performances with subpixel accuracy image motion measurement are provided by an innovative high-speed onboard optoelectronic correlation processor. SMARTSCAN allows therefore using smart pushbroom cameras for hyper-spectral imagers in particular on satellites …
Plug-N-Play, Reliable Power Systems For Nanosatellites , Craig Clark, Alejandro Lopez
Plug-N-Play, Reliable Power Systems For Nanosatellites , Craig Clark, Alejandro Lopez
Small Satellite Conference
For most companies and organizations planning their own space mission, the prospect of producing a reliable, yet affordable power system for their mission is a non-trivial problem. Some non-traditional spacecraft manufacturers, such as Universities, are finding out the importance of a well designed power system the hard-way and are experiencing on-orbit power system failures. The most obvious solution to removing concern over the reliability performance of a power system is to buy one from a recognized source. However, for most nanosatellite producers, the cost of doing so is perceived as being prohibitive. This is no longer the caseClyde Space Limited …
Quantum Dot Technology For Low-Cost Space Power Generation For Smallsats, Theodore Stern
Quantum Dot Technology For Low-Cost Space Power Generation For Smallsats, Theodore Stern
Small Satellite Conference
The provision of sufficient power for smallsats is hindered by the lack of collection area and the relatively high cost of efficient photovoltaic conversion. This paper describes the use of quantum dot nanotechnology being developed to improve both performance and cost of space power generation. The development is oriented towards the use of commercially available components and manufacturing technology to satisfy future smallsat space power needs. In the past 20 years, space power generation has evolved from low cost silicon cells to much higher cost gallium arsenide and multi-bandgap cells in order to better overcome the mismatch between the intrinsic …
Keynote Address, Jean-Jacques Dordain
Keynote Address, Jean-Jacques Dordain
Small Satellite Conference
Biography: Jean-Jacques Dordain has been ESA’s Director General since July 2003. He was reappointed twice to the position by the ESA Council. When he joined ESA in 1986, he was appointed Head of the newly set-up Department for the Promotion and Utilisation of the International Space Station. In 1993, he became Associate Director for Strategy Planning and International Policy, then in 1999 he took the position of Director of Strategy and Technical Assessment. In 2001, he became Director of Launchers. Mr Dordain graduated in engineering from the Ecole Centrale de Paris in 1969 (the year Neil Armstrong walked on the …
Controlling Swarms Of Bandit Inspector Spacecraft, Jeremy Neubauer
Controlling Swarms Of Bandit Inspector Spacecraft, Jeremy Neubauer
Small Satellite Conference
The vast foreseeable benefits of on-orbit servicing to current and future space systems have sparked the development of both large-scale servicing spacecraft and small-scale technology demonstration platforms. The latter provide the ability to prove certain crucial technologies more efficiently than their larger counterparts, due to increased responsiveness and reduced cost. Washington University’s Bandit is one such vehicle currently in progress, designed to research the sensory, autonomy, and control problems of the multivehicle, close-proximity flight necessary to nearly all of the on-orbit servicing industry’s ambitions. This study assesses the ability of behavior-based methods to solve the multi-Bandit control problem, complicated by …
High Performance Attitude Determination Through Analysis Of Geometric Distortions Within Earth Observational Satellite Imagery, David Bamber
High Performance Attitude Determination Through Analysis Of Geometric Distortions Within Earth Observational Satellite Imagery, David Bamber
Small Satellite Conference
The application to which smaller and more affordable satellites may be employed is often constrained by the high pointing-accuracy requirements of current missions. There is therefore an increasing need to develop high accuracy attitude systems that do not breach small satellite mass and cost constraints. This paper proposes a novel method for determining attitude or rates over three axes using low cost, low mass, Earth-pointing push-broom sensor pairs. The technique is applicable to existing Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites with the appropriate camera systems, such as the Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) multispectral imager. The effects …
Rapid Manufacturing Of Satellite Structures And Heat Pipes Using Ultrasonic Consolidation, Jared Clements, Josh George
Rapid Manufacturing Of Satellite Structures And Heat Pipes Using Ultrasonic Consolidation, Jared Clements, Josh George
Small Satellite Conference
Ultrasonic consolidation of aluminum alloys is evaluated for use in the manufacture of multifunctional satellite structures. This paper details the work completed in the design and manufacturing of heat pipes and structural panels. The effects of rib design, build temperature, amplitude of oscillation, and feed rate on bond strength and part quality have been evaluated. Manufacturing obstacles such as bond porosity have been overcome. Proof of concept hardware has been manufactured.
A Software Defined Radio Ais For The Za-002 Satellite, Kgabo Mathapo
A Software Defined Radio Ais For The Za-002 Satellite, Kgabo Mathapo
Small Satellite Conference
ZA-002 is the second South African satellite, and is scheduled to be launched in December 2006. A software defined radio (SDR) automatic identification system (AIS) receiver is proposed as a possible experimental payload for this satellite. The AIS receiver can be used to track and store movement of ships at sea, and then forward this information to the ground station upon request. This paper demonstrates the design of a SDR AIS receiver for a satellite. The design of a GMSK/FM modem as used in AIS is presented, followed by simulation results.
Communications On Board: A Satellite Data Handling And Ground Communication System, Andrew Strange
Communications On Board: A Satellite Data Handling And Ground Communication System, Andrew Strange
Small Satellite Conference
In order to simplify an existing CubeSat design and enhance the ability of the small satellite community to quickly develop and deploy small satellites with robust data handling and communications interfaces, the author developed the Communications on Board (COB) system. The system provides all of the standard satellite data handling and ground communication capabilities that are universal to small satellites. It interfaces with other satellite subsystems via an I2C bus, stores data on a SD card, and communicates with the ground for data and command handling through two radio links. By developing a single-board solution, the author seeks to improve …
Robust Attitude Control With Fuzzy Momentum Unloading For Satellites Using Reaction Wheels, J. Zapf
Robust Attitude Control With Fuzzy Momentum Unloading For Satellites Using Reaction Wheels, J. Zapf
Small Satellite Conference
Keywordsattitude control, robust control, fuzzy logic The performance and power characteristics of any satellite attitude control system are crucial to the success of the satellite mission. This is especially true for small satellites, which have some of the strictest constraints of all. Reaction wheel systems are an attractive means of control for many satellites, because they offer a high pointing accuracy and are not fuel dependent. These systems are typically more complex, however, and can be fairly demanding on the satellite power system. This paper focuses on two major difficulties associated with the implementation of reaction wheel systems. First, the …
Micro Satellite Bus For Stand-Alone Earth Imaging / Space Science Payloads, Raghava Murthy, K Thyagarajan
Micro Satellite Bus For Stand-Alone Earth Imaging / Space Science Payloads, Raghava Murthy, K Thyagarajan
Small Satellite Conference
ISRO has launched series of satellites for Earth Imaging for natural resource applications. These applications are being served by various large satellites. Some of the payloads with required swaths & resolutions, which can serve the applications separately in the areas of agriculture, forestry, geology, water resources, land-use, infrastructure build-up, pollution monitoring etc., can be launched on small or micro satellites on stand-alone basis. With the experience of design, development, fabrication and on-orbit operation of earth imaging satellites from IRS-1A to Cartosat-1, the small/micro satellites are planned with advanced technology. The small satellite project is envisaged to provide platform for stand-alone …
The Giove-A Small Navigation Mission, Andy Bradford, Philip Davies, Doug Liddle, John Paffett, Martin Sweeting, Wies Tondryk, Giuliano Gatti, Antonio Garutti
The Giove-A Small Navigation Mission, Andy Bradford, Philip Davies, Doug Liddle, John Paffett, Martin Sweeting, Wies Tondryk, Giuliano Gatti, Antonio Garutti
Small Satellite Conference
The GIOVE-A mission demonstrates that small satellites are the ideal tool for rapid response missions. The 600kg spacecraft was launched into Medium Earth Orbit in late December 2005, carrying a navigation payload, technology payloads, and a space environment analysis package. Despite significant challenges in the space environment, and tight mission requirements, it was possible to use small satellite engineering techniques to develop and launch this demanding mission in under 30 months.
Adapting To Change In Small Satellites, Lessons From The Tacsat Program, Terrance Yee
Adapting To Change In Small Satellites, Lessons From The Tacsat Program, Terrance Yee
Small Satellite Conference
The TacSat series of spacecraft have very short development times but also very challenging technical goals. To meet the ambitious requirements of these programs requires a systematic approach to change control that allows developmental payloads and subsystems to be integrated rapidly and correctly with the rest of the spacecraft. Often this approach balances documentation and consideration of design impacts of changes with the need for quick decision making and rapid accommodation of changes. MSI has been involved in TacSat-2, TacSat-3, and TacSat-4. The Roadrunner, a.k.a. TacSat-2 mission is being conducted by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to demonstrate techniques …
The Genesat-1 Microsatellite Missiona Challenge In Small Satellite Design, Christopher Kitts, John Hines, Elwood Agasid, Antonio Ricco, Bruce Yost, Karolyn Ronzano, Jordi Puig-Suari
The Genesat-1 Microsatellite Missiona Challenge In Small Satellite Design, Christopher Kitts, John Hines, Elwood Agasid, Antonio Ricco, Bruce Yost, Karolyn Ronzano, Jordi Puig-Suari
Small Satellite Conference
The mission of the GeneSat-1 technology demonstration spacecraft is to validate the use of researchquality instrumentation for in situ biological research and processing. GeneSat-1 is a “triple-CubeSat” vehicle currently being developed for launch as a secondary payload on a Minotaur launch vehicle in late 2006. Spacecraft and mission development is being led by the NASA Ames Research Center Astrobionics group. However, university participation is a crucial element of the program with significant contributions being made from a number of academic groups throughout the Silicon Valley region. This paper will review progress in the development of the GeneSat-1 mission. In addition, …
Structural Verification Of The Rigidizable Inflatable Get-Away-Special Experiment, Anna Gunn-Golkin, Sarah Helms, Richard Cobb
Structural Verification Of The Rigidizable Inflatable Get-Away-Special Experiment, Anna Gunn-Golkin, Sarah Helms, Richard Cobb
Small Satellite Conference
The Air Force Institute of Technology has developed the Rigidizable Inflatable Get-Away-Special Experiment (RIGEX) in order to advance development of inflatable, rigidizable space structures. RIGEX will test the deployment and structural characteristics of three thermoplastic composite tubes in the space environment. RIGEX is designed to fly in the Canister for All Payload Ejections container within the Space Shuttle Orbiter’s payload bay. This paper summarizes the science and motivation behind RIGEX’s inflatable rigidizable structure research. It then details the design and analysis of the RIGEX flight structure, which will house the inflatable rigidizable experiment. The paper details the development of a …
Razaksat – A High Performance Satellite Waiting For Its Mission In Space, H.J. Chun, B.J. Kim, H.S. Chang, E.E. Kim, W.K. Park, S.D. Park, Ahmad Ashard
Razaksat – A High Performance Satellite Waiting For Its Mission In Space, H.J. Chun, B.J. Kim, H.S. Chang, E.E. Kim, W.K. Park, S.D. Park, Ahmad Ashard
Small Satellite Conference
Flight Model (FM) development and testing of RazakSAT, a high performance imaging satellite, has been successfully completed to be launched by Falcon in the first quarter of 2007. The 190 kg satellite, formerly known as MACSAT, has been designed to provide 2.5 m and 5 m resolution multi-spectral and panchromatic imagery from a 685 km altitude in a Near Equatorial orbit (NEqO), respectively. Its seven degree inclination NEqO orbit has been specially chosen for frequent monitoring of equatorial regions of Malaysia with unique revisit characteristics. During the designed life time of three years, RazakSAT is expected to generate image maps …
An Optimized Small Satellite Bus And Structure For The Themis Mission, Walter Eppler
An Optimized Small Satellite Bus And Structure For The Themis Mission, Walter Eppler
Small Satellite Conference
The THEMIS project requires the placement of five small spinning satellites, called Probes, into eccentric Earth orbits. The mission requires a lightweight bus with an optimized structure. The final structure design consists primarily of graphite composite panels, titanium and aluminum fittings and brackets, aluminum and nonmagnetic steel fasteners, and various thermal isolators. Extensive analysis and development testing was performed on the new composite elements of the structure. This bus design was challenging in every subsystem area. In particular, the Probe structure had to accommodate the complex and sometimes competing set of requirements. The fairing envelope constraint led to a tightly …
Minerva Rover Which Became A Small Artificial Solar Satellite, Tetsuo Yoshimitsu, Takashi Kubota, Ichiro Nakatani
Minerva Rover Which Became A Small Artificial Solar Satellite, Tetsuo Yoshimitsu, Takashi Kubota, Ichiro Nakatani
Small Satellite Conference
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), JAXA of Japan is operating the deep space explorer “Hayabusa” which made a rendezvous with the target asteroid “Itokawa” in September 2005. Hayabusa precisely observed the asteroid from the vicinity of the target and then landed on the surface in order to get some fragments from the asteroid, which will be brought back to the Earth in 2010. The authors have installed an experimental small rover named “MINERVA” into the explorer. It was supposed to make a world first surface exploration after having been deployed onto the surface from the mother spacecraft. MINERVA …
General Architecture Of Eclairs Microsatellite, Valerio Cipolla, Marcel Berger, Philippe Lier, Michel Bach
General Architecture Of Eclairs Microsatellite, Valerio Cipolla, Marcel Berger, Philippe Lier, Michel Bach
Small Satellite Conference
The ECLAIRs mission is part of CNES Myriade micro satellite family, and has been selected at the end of 2004 for a launch scheduled in 2009. The development of satellite reached the end of phase A in the first trimester of 2006. The scientific objective of the mission consist observing and characterizing in several wavelengths Gamma Ray burst, to localize them and to alert in real time a ground station network in order to allow ground based telescope to observe the burst’s afterglows. The payload is composed of a set of two instruments a X-ray/g-ray camera (CXG) developed by CEA …
Small Satellites Cnes Programme Missions Flown And In Preparation, Lessons Learned, Success Conditions, Bernard Tatry, Marie-Anne Clair, François Buisson
Small Satellites Cnes Programme Missions Flown And In Preparation, Lessons Learned, Success Conditions, Bernard Tatry, Marie-Anne Clair, François Buisson
Small Satellite Conference
MYRIADE is the name of the CNES (french space agency) small satellite Line of Product which development started in 1999. It was an answer to the existing scientific, application or technological missions needs, and also an opportunity to develop international cooperation, technical or technological innovation, new management techniques, new organisations … MYRIADE had several objectives - provide low mission cost including launch cost - provide short development time - provide possibility to launch 2 missions/year - provide high performances together with great flexibility - The MYRIADE system is a multi-missions system, with a common ground segment and a specific flight …
An Overview And Initial In-Orbit Status Of “Index” Satellite, Hirobumi Saito, Takahide Mizuno, Koji Tanaka, Yoshitsugu Sone, Seisuke Fukuda, Shin-Ichiro Sakai, Nobukatsu Okuizumi, Makoto Mita, Yosuke Fukushima, Masafumi Hirahara, Kazushi Asamura, Takeshi Sakanoi, Akira Miura, Toshinori Ikenaga, Yasunari Masumoto
An Overview And Initial In-Orbit Status Of “Index” Satellite, Hirobumi Saito, Takahide Mizuno, Koji Tanaka, Yoshitsugu Sone, Seisuke Fukuda, Shin-Ichiro Sakai, Nobukatsu Okuizumi, Makoto Mita, Yosuke Fukushima, Masafumi Hirahara, Kazushi Asamura, Takeshi Sakanoi, Akira Miura, Toshinori Ikenaga, Yasunari Masumoto
Small Satellite Conference
INDEX ( REIMEI ) is a small satellite with 72kg mass, and is provided with three-axis attitude controlled capabilities for aurora observation. REIMEI was launched into a nearly sun synchronous polar orbit on Aug. 23rd, 2005 (UT) from Baikonur, Kazakhstan by Dnepr rocket. REIMEI satellite functions works satisfactorily in the orbit. Three axis control is achieved with accuracy of 0.05 deg. Multi-spectrum images of aurora are taken with 8Hz rate and 2 km spatial resolution and are being analyzed to investigate the aurora physics.