Dynamic link analysis and its in-orbit verification on a spin-stabilized satellite mission Eu:CROPIS

Kurzfassung

In this paper, we present the in-orbit verification of a dynamic link budget approach for the communication link of the Eu:CROPIS (Euglena and Combined Regenerative Organic-Food Production in Space) satellite. Due to the high satellite spin rates of up to 30 rpm the satellite antennas radio frequency (RF) beam becomes strongly dynamic, consisting of fast amplitude variations and phase rotations. Both effects degrade the link quality and might lead to an abort of the communication. The paper presents an accurate method of how to simulate these dynamic effects and examines the simulation outputs with real in-orbit measurements. Both results are compared with each other and deviations are discussed.