TET-1 Satellite

The small satellite TET-1 was developed and built on behalf of the DLR space agency by the German medium-sized companies Kayser-Threde GmbH and Astro- und Feinwerktechnik Adlershof GmbH (“Astrofein” for short), with Kayser-Threde GmbH as project manager, particularly for payload integration was responsible. The TET satellite bus was developed by “Astrofein” based on the BIRD model with the support of the DLR Institute for Optical Sensor Systems. It is designed as a so-called “multi-mission bus”, which means it can be used for other small satellite missions, such as: B. BIROS, was and is reusable.

OOV-TET 1

The TET-1 launched into Earth orbit on July 22, 2012. The structure is based on its predecessor BIRD (Bi-Spectral Infra-Red Detection), the first orbiter in a small satellite mission to detect high-temperature events.

The initial task of TET-1 was to carry out eleven experiments for a year as part of the “On-Orbit Verification of New Techniques and Technologies” (OOV for short) program. Research institutions and industry were able to test and verify their systems on TET-1 under space conditions. Among other things, a lithium polymer battery system, a GPS receiver and new types of solar cells were tested. After the successful completion of the OOV mission, the satellite was taken over into the follow-up mission FireBIRD.

The main payload of TET-1 is the powerful infrared camera system Hot Spot Recognition System (HSRS), with which the satellite was already successful as a forest fire detector before the launch of BIROS. In the hot summer of 2015, he was able to register and measure one large and several small fires in Oregon, USA. In October 2015, the DLR satellite provided precise images of large-scale forest and moorland fires in Indonesia. Since June 2016 it has been flying together with BIROS as the FireBIRD constellation.

Operations and financing

TET-1 (just like BIROS) is operated and monitored by the space control center in Oberpfaffenhofen (German Space Operations Center, GSOC) with its antenna systems in Weilheim. The payload data is received, processed, archived and then made available to research in the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) at the DLR site in Neustrelitz. The construction and operation of TET-1 was financed by DLR funds.

TET-1 Payload

Contact

Dr.- Ing. Andreas Eckardt

Head of Department High-Speed Electronics
Institute of Optical Sensor Systems
High-Speed Electronics
Rutherfordstr. 2, 12489 Berlin