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The knowledge bank of ESA’s R&D programmes

AltiCube+ - An Aggregated CubeSats Swarm for Long Fixed-baseline Radar Altimetry

Programme
Preparation
Programme Reference
23-P-M-TEC-02-b
Contractor
Start Date
End Date
Status
Closed
Country
The Netherlands
AltiCube+ - An Aggregated CubeSats Swarm for Long Fixed-baseline Radar Altimetry
Description

This report summarises the feasibility study result of AltiCube+, a low-cost long fixed-baseline radar altimeter solution based on CubeSats on-orbit assembly. Various altimeter concepts based on the AltiCube+ solution, including off-nadir SARIn and a Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output, have been explored, aiming at sub-kilometre cross-track resolution for water level monitoring. Key technologies on deployable structures, autonomous assembly and highly capable platform have been assessed. The final concept consists of five 16U CubeSats docking with each other to establish two side-looking interferometric altimeters, each with 6.6 meter baseline.

Keywords
Executive summary