Formation for atmospheric science and technology demonstration

Abstract

FAST (Formation for Atmospheric Science and Technology demonstration) is a cooperative Dutch-Chinese formation flying mission led by Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands and Tsinghua University in China. FAST shows the potential of a first international micro-satellite formation flying mission in three distinct fields: technology demonstration, earth science and space education. Here, the FAST mission is presented. The mission scenario consisting of different formation flying stages is described, and the system design of both the space and the ground segments is introduced, with emphasis on Dutch contributions. Some key technical issues related to autonomous formation flying are also addressed.