ESA?s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission launched in 2009 is based on an L-band interferometric radiometer providing images of the entire earth globe every three days. Several studies have been conducted in the past few years to define a different antenna configuration which could allow to improve the image quality and simultaneously reduce the imaging time.

The use of COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) EEE parts together with lead free solder assembly are increasing the likelihood of tin (Sn) whiskers growing and causing issues or failures of flight equipment in service. When considering the growing use of COTS, several component package types are considered most at risk of this type of issue, such as flat packs and BGAs (Ball Grid Arrays).

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Radio signals crossing the ionosphere at high and low latitudes are regularly affected by ionospheric scintillation. Mid-latitudes are also impacted during geomagnetic storm periods. Scintillation highly degrades precise positioning and Safety of Live (SoL) applications that rely on transionospheric links, causing disruptions in the services or misleading information from undetected cycle-slips or increased noise in the signals. Currently, scintillation is monitored using high-end special purpose devices equipped with stable clocks.

In space missions, in which materials can be scarce, CO2 appears as a valuable resource t

In the last years, electric propulsion has become an interesting alternative to the traditional chemical propulsion for different applications, ranging from transfers to GEO to operations of (large) constellations of small satellites in LEO.The activity will first look at available data on flown hardware and their performance, together with a review of currently adopted operational concepts.