Introduction to the Microsatellite Platform

Abstract

The book represents the Flight Operations Manual of the microsatellite platform. Before diving into the operations of the platform and its subsystems, into failure management and ground station functions, this chapter provides a brief overview on the Future Low-cost Platform (FLP). It explains the basic concept of the platform versus a complete satellite, it sketches out the first FLP prototype satellite “Flying Laptop” and explains which parts represent the re-usable platform. These platform elements can be taken over for other missions to significantly reduce the development effort.