APEX (Hera Cubesat) Consolidation phase

The objective of the activity is to consolidate the design of the APEX Cubesat, currently in phase A/B, namely the system and subsystem (equipment) specifications, de-risk critical equipment and technologies, and finalize the preliminary design to allow an efficient start of the following implementation phase. The technological development of critical units will take place up to E(Q)M level along with the consolidation of the industrial team following SPACE19+ subscriptions.

Within the Space Safety programme (S2P), under preparation for the Council at Ministerial Level (Space19+), Hera is the cornerstone mission of the planetary defence and it builds on extensive work done by the Agency and European industry between 2011 and 2019. In particular, the Hera mission in currently in Phase B1 which will be concluded by a System Requirements Review in Summer 2019 after which a prompt start of Phase B2 is planned to reach PDR by end of 2020. ;The APEX mission concept results on the collaborative work done by the Agency, ;European industry and academia, in particular, to enable the use of cubesats in deep space missions. A phase A/B study is currently ongoing with the aim of achieving system PDR by the end of 2019. However, a number of technological de-risk activities have been identified to help increase the robustness of the upcoming PDR, along activities that will allow to bridge more efficiently the APEX activities to the implementation phase under S2P, thus contributing to secure the mission schedule.;The activity will be divided into two contractual phases (Step 1 and Step 2), the condition between the two phases being the mission adoption at Council at Ministerial Level taking place on 26-28 Nov 2019 (step 2 will be activated in case of mission adoption). The foreseen tasks will include as a minimum:;- Step 1 (5 Months, 400 k?):Consolidation of mission requirements, operational concept and constraints in view of the design evolution of the Hera spacecraftConsolidation of system requirements deriving from the mission requirements and mission design/analysisConsolidation of the associated system development, integration and verification plan for the follow-on phases Consolidation of the programmatic baseline of the project detailing associated costs, schedule and risks.Detailed investigation of Magnetometer boom flexible modesVisual Based Navigation algorithms consolidationSystem S/W and FDIR breadboardingSWIR channel breadboarding for the multispectral payloadCritical elements EQMs design and parts procurement;- Step 2 (10 Months, 1500 k?);Finalization of mission requirements, operational concept and constraints in view of the design evolution of the Hera spacecraft and following the constraints derived from the actual MS subscriptions at SPACE19+Finalization of system requirements deriving from the mission requirements and mission design/analysis, the associated system development, integration and verification plan for the follow-on phases Finalization of the programmatic baseline of the project detailing associated costs, schedule and risks.SVF designBreadboarding of MAG sensors and electronicsRelease of OBSW v 0.1AIT detailed definitionCritical elements EQMs manufacturing;Such extent of activities will allow an efficient transition towards the mission implementation within the Space Safety Programme (S2P) along with a smooth and continuous flow of work of the industrial consortium, minimising the schedule risk for the upcoming phases.;These activities will merge with the full implementation contract of the Phase C/D/E under the S2P programme following programme adoption ad SPACE19+ (Q2 2020), allowing an overall design maturity of APEX at PDR level (both System and Instruments), substantiated by critical elements E(Q)Ms by end of 2020, thus securing the baseline launch date. . The consortium will be further updated after Space19+ when issuing the RFQ for the phases C/D/E reflecting the level of subscriptions in the new S2P programme to the Hera mission.