The design process of a typical attitude and orbit control system (AOCS) involves the significant effort of tuning and validation of static controllers or state estimators, calibrated for each mission phase/mode. The transition between these controllers/observers may occur without performance guarantee, as well as provoking settling impacts. The tuning effort and Verification and Validation (VV) process can be improved by Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) techniques.

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).

Background and context: Missions are being studied to the systems and moons of outer planets, including extended observation periods by local orbiters or possible landers, that require careful evaluation of the local radiation, plasma, microparticle, atmospheric and plume environment for design of both platform and science payload. Radiation impact potentially includes total cumulative doses, single event effects from short term enhancements and internal charging risk whilst plasma environments present risks of surface charging.

Today, reference oscillators are based on a quartz resonator which is carefully sheltered in order to provide a very stable environment to this key component which in turn provides a very stable and low phase noise reference. This type of oscillator also called Oven Controlled Oscillator (OCXO) is the core technology in most space products requiring either stable frequency or low phase noise or both. Though far more recent on the market, MEMS oscillators are already as good as TCXO while being much smaller (hybrid assembly as compared to single chip solution).

The exploitation of the wide bandwidth signals in the lower GNSS L-band is expected to be of interest for mass-market user equipment (UE) in order to improve significantly code-based position accuracy in location-based services.

Since 2018, ESA has been studying the next mission to Venus, the EnVision mission. EnVision, proposed as a joint mission with NASA, is an orbital mission which will essentially study the planet geological activity by carrying high resolution surface observations, using a set of synthetic aperture radar, radar sounders and emissivity mappers and spectrometers.The mission profile with a baseline launch in 2032, includes a 135 day transfer phase (or extended transfer of 543 days) followed by an extensive 2-year aero-braking phase.

Based on flexible PVA equipped blankets, solar array concepts are to be devised, which are low in cost and which can pack tightly into limited stowed volumes (target range 25-40 kW/m3).