ASTRO APS

A versatile state-of-the-art star tracker

The ASTRO APS star tracker – a star sensor ready for all types of missions in LEO, MEO, HEO GEO orbit as well as deep space and human space.

Our ASTRO APS star sensor (star Tracker) is used by our customers in the space industry worldwide. From America (including Boeing, MAXAR, NASA) through Europe (including Airbus Defense and Space, OHB, ESA) to Asia (including JAXA), the ASTRO APS has established itself as a reliable and powerful star sensor.

Alphasat (2013), Orion (successful completed Artemis-1 mission in 2022, more to follow), Roman Space-Telescope (to be launched in 2025) and MSR-ERO (to be launched in 2026) are just a few mission, which rely on the ASTRO APS.

ASTRO APS is an autonomous star sensor with the most advanced radiation hard CMOS Active Pixel Sensor (APS) detector technology.

A single box design has been chosen with minimized dimensions, low mass and low power consumption while maximizing the ease of integration on the spacecraft. ASTRO APS shows high reliability and radiation hardness by careful selection of EEE Parts, reduced number of components and special software algorithms to cope with radiation events.

The technical key parameters of the ASTRO APS based star sensor are the low mass budget with approx. 2kg, the low power consumption with approx. 5W and the attitude quaternion accuracy of <1arcsec (1sigma). These data define a new level of compactness compared to CCD-based star sensors for the GEO telecom market (>18 years lifetime, <25 years radiation robustness for GEO missions).

The improvements in dimensions and performance were enabled due to the replacement of the CCD detector with the APS (Active Pixel Sensor) detector technology. The mass and envelope benefit is based on the very high functional integration of the APS detectors. The complete analogue read-out and sampling electronics are placed on the detector chip. This saves PCB area compared to CCD-based systems. The parts count for an APS based star sensor is reduced accordingly. Along with that, the unit costs are reduced and the system reliability is increased. The concept is modular and allows the use of either the STAR1000 or the HAS2 detector chip.

Mission enabler: Jena-Optronik star tracker selected by Airbus OneWeb Satellites

Jena-Optronik is proud to announce that it has been selected by satellite constellation manufacturer Airbus OneWeb Satellites to provide the ASTRO CL star tracker for the ARROW family of small satellites.

read more

Little big star (tracker)

Maxar taps Jena-Optronik for the ASTRO CL star tracker for new proliferated low-Earth orbit (LEO) platform.

read more

All News-Articles

#30of30

As we are turning 30 years, we a delighted to give you insights on our history as well as future missions with space technology made by Jena-Optronik.

read more

Space optics: Our contributions to Sentinel-4

The ESA Sentinel-4 mission is part of the European Commission Copernicus Programme for monitoring the Earth. We develop and build the core main optics of the Sentinel-4/Ultra-violet/Visible/Near- Infrared (UVN) instrument, which comprises a telescope, a UV-VIS spectrometer and a NIR spectrometer.

read more

All Blog-Articles

Space photography

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

read more

Space: It’s all around us

Space inspires us all and creates a wealth of knowledge

read more

All Knowledgeplatform-Articles

Events

  • June 19-25, 2023
    Paris Air Show, LeBourget, France
  • June 12-16, 2023
    International Conference on Guidance, Navigation & Control Systems (GNC), Sopot, Poland