Wigbert Fehse (born 4 December 1937 in Berlin) is a German engineer and researcher in the area of automatic space navigation, guidance, control and docking/berthing.
Wigbert Fehse (born 4 December 1937 in Berlin) is a German engineer and researcher in the area of automatic space navigation, guidance, control and docking/berthing.
Fehse studied mechanics and aircraft guidance, navigation and control at the Technical University of Berlin (Germany), where he received his master's degree in 1965. In 1972, the doctor’s degree (summa cum laude) has been conferred on him by the Aerospace Institute of the Technical University of Berlin for his research and thesis on hydrostatic bearings as frictionless suspension in navigation instruments. [1] In addition, in 1965 through 1973, he was responsible for the development of inertial navigation sensors and gyrostabilizers for satellites at Teldix (now Rockwell Collins, Inc.) in Heidelberg (Germany). In the following years he worked at ESTEC, the main technology development and test centre for spacecraft and space technology of the European Space Agency (ESA) at Noordwijk, The Netherlands, on attitude control and precision pointing problems and became later Head of the Navigation and Guidance Section. There, he and his teams at ESA and in industry developed basic techniques and technologies for automated rendezvous and docking of spacecraft, which are being applied in international space projects, such as the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), the first West-European spacecraft that docked automatically to the International Space Station (ISS) in April 2008.
Since his retirement in 2002, Fehse supports European space companies as a consultant and adviser in rendezvous and coupling issues. These include rendezvous with non-cooperative targets (e.g. removal of space debris in Low Earth Orbit) and servicing of geostationary satellites disturbed by the effects of solar pressure. Furthermore, he continues to give specific lectures at universities and international institutes and industry.
Fehse is internationally known for his work in the area of automated rendezvous and docking/berthing of spacecraft. In addition to his numerous publications, his handbook on Automated Rendezvous and Docking of Spacecraft [2] has been widely recognized. In 2011, his handbook has been translated into the Chinese language. [3]
He contributed to the Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering - issued in 2010 - by writing the section on close proximity rendezvous and docking (RVD). [4] and - in 2013 - he wrote "Safety of Rendezvous and Docking Operations" as part of the Handbook on "Safety Design for Space Operations" [5]
The European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) serves as the main mission control centre for the European Space Agency (ESA) and is located in Darmstadt, Germany. ESOC's primary function is the operation of unmanned spacecraft on behalf of ESA and the launch and early orbit phases (LEOP) of ESA and third-party missions. The Centre is also responsible for a range of operations-related activities within ESA and in cooperation with ESA's industry and international partners, including ground systems engineering, software development, flight dynamics and navigation, development of mission control tools and techniques and space debris studies.
A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, planetary exploration, and transportation of humans and cargo. All spacecraft except single-stage-to-orbit vehicles cannot get into space on their own, and require a launch vehicle.
The Automated Transfer Vehicle, originally Ariane Transfer Vehicle or ATV, was an expendable cargo spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), used for space cargo transport in 2008–2014. The ATV design was launched to orbit five times, exclusively by the Ariane 5 heavy-lift launch vehicle. It functioned much like the Russian Progress cargo spacecraft for carrying upmass to a single destination—the International Space Station (ISS)—but with three times the capacity.
A space rendezvous is a set of orbital maneuvers during which two spacecraft, one of which is often a space station, arrive at the same orbit and approach to a very close distance. Rendezvous requires a precise match of the orbital velocities and position vectors of the two spacecraft, allowing them to remain at a constant distance through orbital station-keeping. Rendezvous may or may not be followed by docking or berthing, procedures which bring the spacecraft into physical contact and create a link between them.
DART, or Demonstration for Autonomous Rendezvous Technology, was a NASA sponsored project with the goal to develop and demonstrate an automated navigation and rendezvous capability in a NASA spacecraft. At the time of the DART mission, only the Russian Space Agency and JAXA had autonomous space craft navigation. Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) was the prime contractor for construction, launch and operation of the DART vehicle with a project cost of $95 million US(2005). The contract was awarded in June 2001 and the spacecraft was launched on April 15, 2005. The mission ended prematurely, very shortly after an anomalous slow-velocity collision with its target spacecraft, having completed less than half of the original mission autonomous rendezvous objectives.
The European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) is the European Space Agency's main technology development and test centre for spacecraft and space technology. It is situated in Noordwijk, South Holland, in the western Netherlands, although several kilometers off the village but immediately linked to the most Northern district of the nearby town Katwijk.
The Advanced Reentry Demonstrator (ARD) was a European Space Agency (ESA) suborbital reentry vehicle. It was developed and operated for experimental purposes, specifically to validate the multiple reentry technologies integrated upon it and the vehicle's overall design, as well as to gain greater insight into the various phenomenon encountered during reentry.
Flight controllers are personnel who aid space flight by working in such Mission Control Centers as NASA's Mission Control Center or ESA's European Space Operations Centre. Flight controllers work at computer consoles and use telemetry to monitor various technical aspects of a space mission in real time. Each controller is an expert in a specific area and constantly communicates with additional experts in the "back room". The flight director, who leads the flight controllers, monitors the activities of a team of flight controllers, and has overall responsibility for success and safety.
The Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) is a European Space Agency (ESA) experimental suborbital re-entry vehicle. It was developed to serve as a prototype spaceplane to validate the ESA's work in the field of reusable launchers.
Orbital Express was a space mission managed by the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and a team led by engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The Orbital Express program was aimed at developing "a safe and cost-effective approach to autonomously service satellites in orbit". The system consisted of two spacecraft: the ASTRO servicing satellite, and a prototype modular next-generation serviceable satellite; NEXTSat. The mission launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 8 March 2007, aboard an Atlas V expendable launch vehicle. The launch was part of the United States Air Force Space Test Program STP-1 mission.
Kurs is a radio telemetry system used by the Soviet and later Russian space program.
Guidance, navigation and control is a branch of engineering dealing with the design of systems to control the movement of vehicles, especially, automobiles, ships, aircraft, and spacecraft. In many cases these functions can be performed by trained humans. However, because of the speed of, for example, a rocket's dynamics, human reaction time is too slow to control this movement. Therefore, systems—now almost exclusively digital electronic—are used for such control. Even in cases where humans can perform these functions, it is often the case that GNC systems provide benefits such as alleviating operator work load, smoothing turbulence, fuel savings, etc. In addition, sophisticated applications of GNC enable automatic or remote control.
The Jules Verne ATV, or Automated Transfer Vehicle 001 (ATV-001), was an unmanned cargo resupply spacecraft launched by the European Space Agency (ESA). The ATV was named after the 19th-century French science-fiction author Jules Verne. It was launched on 9 March 2008 on a mission to supply the International Space Station (ISS) with propellant, water, air, and dry cargo. Jules Verne was the first of five ATVs to be launched.
The Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) is the name given to the components of the International Space Station (ISS) constructed in Russia and operated by the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos). The ROS handles Guidance, Navigation, and Control for the entire Station.
The Johannes Kepler ATV, or Automated Transfer Vehicle 002 (ATV-002), was an uncrewed cargo spacecraft built to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). It was launched on 16 February 2011 by the European Space Agency (ESA). Johannes Kepler carried propellant, air and dry cargo weighing over 7,000 kilograms (15,000 lb), and had a total mass of over 20,000 kilograms (44,000 lb), making it, at the time, the heaviest payload launched by the ESA. The spacecraft was named after the 17th-century German astronomer Johannes Kepler.
Soyuz TMA-03M was a spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS). It launched on 21 December 2011 from Site One at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, carrying three members of Expedition 30 to the ISS. TMA-03M was the 112th flight of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, since the first in 1967, and the third flight of the modernised Soyuz-TMA-M version. The docking with the International Space Station took place at 19:19 Moscow Time on 23 December, three minutes ahead of schedule.
TriDAR, or Triangulation and LIDAR Automated Rendezvous and Docking, is a relative navigation vision system developed by Neptec Design Group and funded by the Canadian Space Agency and NASA. It provides guidance information that can be used to guide an unmanned vehicle during rendezvous and docking operations in space. TriDAR does not rely on any reference markers positioned on the target spacecraft. Instead, TriDAR relies on a laser based 3D sensor and a thermal imager. TriDAR's proprietary software uses the geometric information contained in successive 3D images to match against the known shape of the target object and calculate its position and orientation.
Docking and berthing of spacecraft is the joining of two space vehicles. This connection can be temporary, or partially permanent such as for space station modules.
Telespazio VEGA UK Ltd. is a British space company based in Luton, Bedfordshire. Founded in 1978 by a small group of engineers at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, VEGA presently works with various space agencies, satellite operators and manufacturers around the world. It works with the European Space Agency (ESA) and ESOC in Germany, European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, ESA Centre for Earth Observation (ESRIN) in Rome, Italy, and European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) in Madrid, Spain.
The Nanosat 01 was an artificial satellite developed by the Spanish Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA) and launched the 18th of December 2004. Considered a nano satellite for its weight of less than 20 kg, its main mission was forwarding communications between far reaching points of the Earth such as Juan Carlos I Antarctic Base from mainland Spain. This was possible due to its polar orbit and altitude of 650 km above sea level. During an operational run the data obtained in the Antarctic would be uploaded to the satellite during its fly by and then, downloaded in Spain when satellite reached the Iberian Peninsula.
