Sener to Lead the Design and Manufacture of Space Capsule for Comet Interceptor Mission

Sener to Lead the Design and Manufacture of Space Capsule for Comet Interceptor Mission

The Sener engineering and technology group has been selected to lead the design and manufacture of the probe for the Comet Interceptor space science mission of the European Space Agency (ESA), in cooperation with the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA)

More specifically, Sener has signed a contract with OHB Italia, which leads the mission and the production of its spacecraft. As the main contractor for the design and construction of the space probe – which will be carried from OHB Italia’s spacecraft – Sener will lead an industrial consortium of more than 8 companies from 6 countries, experts in the field of aerospace, such as OHB Italia, SAFT France, MSC Canada, Euro-Composites Luxembourg, and Spain’s Iberespacio.

The Comet Interceptor mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) will be launched in 2029 with the aim of visiting, for the first time in the history of space exploration, a pristine comet, meaning its physical and chemical properties have been unchanged since its birth due to never having approached the Sun. “These comets are of great scientific interest”, says Demetrio Zorita, Business Development Manager at Sener, “because they tell us the origin of our world. By exploring their surface, we observe the formation of the solar system and the Earth four and a half billion years ago”.

The target will be a celestial body probably originating in the Oort cloud, a structure located at the limits of the solar system, where fluctuations caused by gravitational forces occasionally hurl some object toward the Sun, making it a periodic comet that has not yet completed an orbit. The Sener capsule will measure just over half a meter in diameter, just under one meter in height, and weigh approximately 40 kg.

It will be carried by the main spacecraft from OHB Italia, responsible for the mission, and separate to perform an approach within a few hundred kilometers of the comet’s nucleus, making scientific observations of plasma, magnetism, and radiation in various visible and infrared spectra, while the main spacecraft remains safe a much further distance away. “The mission faces enormous technological challenges, with perhaps the most difficult one being surviving the hostile environment of particles around the comet, with severe limitations on the mass and power available”, says Jose María Fernández Ibarz, project manager at Sener.

Click here to learn more about ESA's Comet Interceptor Mission.


Publisher: SatNow
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GNSS Constellations - A list of all GNSS satellites by constellations

beidou

Satellite NameOrbit Date
BeiDou-3 G4Geostationary Orbit (GEO)17 May, 2023
BeiDou-3 G2Geostationary Orbit (GEO)09 Mar, 2020
Compass-IGSO7Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)09 Feb, 2020
BeiDou-3 M19Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)16 Dec, 2019
BeiDou-3 M20Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)16 Dec, 2019
BeiDou-3 M21Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)23 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 M22Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)23 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 I3Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)04 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 M23Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)22 Sep, 2019
BeiDou-3 M24Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)22 Sep, 2019

galileo

Satellite NameOrbit Date
GSAT0223MEO - Near-Circular05 Dec, 2021
GSAT0224MEO - Near-Circular05 Dec, 2021
GSAT0219MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0220MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0221MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0222MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0215MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0216MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0217MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0218MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017

glonass

Satellite NameOrbit Date
Kosmos 2569--07 Aug, 2023
Kosmos 2564--28 Nov, 2022
Kosmos 2559--10 Oct, 2022
Kosmos 2557--07 Jul, 2022
Kosmos 2547--25 Oct, 2020
Kosmos 2545--16 Mar, 2020
Kosmos 2544--11 Dec, 2019
Kosmos 2534--27 May, 2019
Kosmos 2529--03 Nov, 2018
Kosmos 2527--16 Jun, 2018

gps

Satellite NameOrbit Date
Navstar 82Medium Earth Orbit19 Jan, 2023
Navstar 81Medium Earth Orbit17 Jun, 2021
Navstar 78Medium Earth Orbit22 Aug, 2019
Navstar 77Medium Earth Orbit23 Dec, 2018
Navstar 76Medium Earth Orbit05 Feb, 2016
Navstar 75Medium Earth Orbit31 Oct, 2015
Navstar 74Medium Earth Orbit15 Jul, 2015
Navstar 73Medium Earth Orbit25 Mar, 2015
Navstar 72Medium Earth Orbit29 Oct, 2014
Navstar 71Medium Earth Orbit02 Aug, 2014

irnss

Satellite NameOrbit Date
NVS-01Geostationary Orbit (GEO)29 May, 2023
IRNSS-1IInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)12 Apr, 2018
IRNSS-1HSub Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (Sub-GTO)31 Aug, 2017
IRNSS-1GGeostationary Orbit (GEO)28 Apr, 2016
IRNSS-1FGeostationary Orbit (GEO)10 Mar, 2016
IRNSS-1EGeosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)20 Jan, 2016
IRNSS-1DInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)28 Mar, 2015
IRNSS-1CGeostationary Orbit (GEO)16 Oct, 2014
IRNSS-1BInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)04 Apr, 2014
IRNSS-1AInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)01 Jul, 2013