Star sensors

We are a worldwide leading company in the field of Attitude and Orbit Control Systems (AOCS) for space applications.

Our specialists have developed and manufactured opto-electronic sensors for the Attitude and Orbit Control Systems (AOCS) of satellites since the 1980s and evolved this technology to become a worldwide leader in this field.

The product range of Attitude and Orbit Control Systems (AOCS) sensors covers

The first Star Tracker ASTRO 1 has proven its space competence on the space station MIR for more than 15 years. The ASTRO 15 Star Tracker developed for long-term missions with high accuracy pointing is successfully operating e.g. on DirecTV's satellites. Application examples for the company's ASTRO 10 Star Tracker are the Earth Observation programs TerraSAR-X as well as Tandem-X and the German SARLupe. The next generation star sensor ASTRO APS is based on innovative CMOS detector technology and will be integrated on the European large telecom satellite AlphaSat. 

More than 60 flight units of the Precision Sun Sensor PSS are operatingvery successfully on space missions since 1997, e.g. on several Alcatel Spacebus 3000 satellites. The successor model FSS (Fine Sun Sensor) is an analogue sun sensor with a high degree of flexibility to cope with a large variety of customer requirements and has been delivered for Radarsat-2, Cosmo-Skymed and Galileo GSTB-V2.

The unmanned transfer vehicles ATV (ESA) and HTV (JAXA), but also the American “Cygnus” approach the International Space Station ISS with the help of the Rendezvous- and Docking Sensor RVS.

Exploring a new world: NASA’s Psyche mission spacecraft equipped with sensor technology from Jena

Jena-Optronik provides autonomous star sensors to Maxar for the attitude control system of the Psyche spacecraft.

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Heinrich Hertz mission launched with star sensors “Made in Jena” on board

Two of Jena-Optronik’s ASTRO APS star sensors enable the attitude and orbit control of the German geostationary communication satellite, which was developed and built by OHB System AG.

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ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer was our guest!

A very excited #teamspace met Matthias Maurer on November 27, 2023.

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Dr. Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, visited us

Jena-Optronik had the great honor of giving insight into the future of space to a special guest: Dr. Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, visited us on November 20, 2023!

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Space photography

Apollo astronauts as photographers: stunning pictures of our blue marble, the moon and astronauts' lifes 

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Space: It’s all around us

Space inspires us all and creates a wealth of knowledge

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Events

  • April 08-11, 2024
    Space Symposium, Colorado Springs, CO, USA
  • February 06-08, 2024
    SmallSat Symposium, Mountain View, CA, USA
  • February 01-07, 2024
    AAS GN&C Conference, Breckenridge, CO, USA