THE HAMSTER PROJECT: HELIOSINCHRONOUSAUTONOMUS MICROSATELLITE TERRA-SARESCORTING AND RECORDING

摘要

HAMSTER is a very small satellite , composed of "off the shelf" parts only andweights only 75 kg , the estimated cost including the launch is 4.1 M $. HAMSTERwas designed for 6 months mission to prove capabilities for future use and can also beused as it is today.The main property of Hamster is the escorting of an existing satellite with SARimaging capabilities called TerraSAR-X while proving control capabilities in variousflight formations using a CCD camera at varying distance between 500 m to 10 km .HAMSTER has two models but the project focuses on the one which has a payload ofa multispectral push broom camera for complementary imaging with the TerraSAR-Ximager, this complementary imaging method eliminates the need for a rescanningwhich appears while imaging SAR only.HAMSTER's second model is a SAR antenna receiver payload for a bi – static SARimaging with TearraSAR-X, TerraSAR-X transmits a signal and both satellitesreceive the reflected signal and synchronal analyze the image, this SAR imagingmethod also reduce the number of rescans of the area.