Alcatel Alenia Space will develop and supply the S-Band Formation Flying Radio Frequency (FFRF) sensor for the Prototype Research Instruments and Space Mission technology Advancement (PRISMA) mission. PRISMA is an eight-month flight mission funded by the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB), with the Swedish Space Corp. (SSC) as prime contractor and developed in cooperation with the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), the Danish Technical University (DTU) and the French Space Agency (CNES).
Its primary goal is to perform guidance, navigation and control demonstrations as well as in-flight validation of sensor technologies for future missions in which rendezvous and formation flying are a prerequisite. Alcatel Alenia Space’s French and Spanish subsidiaries will design, develop, manufacture, test and supply the FFRF sensor, under the frame of the bilateral Earth science missions agreement signed between CNES and CDTI (the Spanish space agency).
The FFRF sensor, which will comprise two FFRF terminals, two sets of antennas and two associated test benches, will provide real time relative positioning and inter-vehicle communication services with a dynamic range between 3 m to 30 km and a positioning accuracy of 1 cm. It will be used for the European Space Agency’s and CNES’ next generation formation flying missions.