SSC18-VII-07

GOMX-4 – the twin European mission for IOD purposes

Laura León Pérez, Per Koch

GOMSPACE A/S
GomSpace Headquarters, Langagervej 6, 9220 – Aalborg East, Denmark; T +45 2391 8498
[email protected]

Roger Walker
EUROPEAN SPACE AGENGY (ESA)
ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, NL-2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands; T +31 71 565 3349
[email protected]

ABSTRACT
The next generation of nanosatellites in GomSpace has been developed after the success of GOMX-3 in aircraft
traffic monitoring and L-band communications. GOMX-4 is the demonstration mission of this new 6U platform
including two satellites; GOMX-4A and GOMX-4B, which are mainly intended to test constellation capabilities for
orbital control and inter-satellite communications together with additional innovative technologies.

GOMX-4B is funded by ESA for In-Orbit Demonstration (IOD) purposes demonstrating the 5 payloads on-board:
the 6U propulsion module from NanoSpace; the innovative Inter-Satellite Link (ISL) from GomSpace; the Chimera
board developed by ESA; the HyperScout Hyperspectral Camera from Cosine and the Star Tracker from ISIS.
GOMX-4A is a satellite to monitor Greenland and the artic region by capturing ADS-B, AIS and images for the
Danish Defense Acquisition and Logistics Organization (DALO).

The numerous in-orbit experiments and various payloads included in the GOMX-4 mission show the high
performance and flexibility of the GomSpace 6U platform, flying its advanced EPS and its AOCS for the first time.

The two satellites were launched on the 2nd of February 2018 on a LM-2D. The in-orbit results presented here show
the extensive capabilities of these innovative nanosatellites, and opens the path for scaling to larger platforms and
advanced constellations with compact communication and optical payloads.

INTRODUCTION GOMX-4 MISSION GOALS

With an exponential increase of the interest in The GOMX-4 mission consists in two nanosatellites
nanosatellite mission from the space community and flying in Sun Synchronous Orbit at around 500 Km of
potential users, the requested capabilities for CubeSat altitude during a lifetime between 3 and 5 years. They
platforms are naturally growing. In this context, the will perform several experiments and images/data
market is trending to offer services covering the globe collection around the globe, streaming them daily to the
with minimum data latency. primary ground station located in Aalborg.

For this purpose, nanosatellite constellations are highly

demanded together with advanced capacities for power
supply, orbit control and communication schemes.

GOMX-4 mission is the constellation precursor project

for further Inter-Satellite Link (ISL) and orbit control
operations between several satellites.

Figure 2: GOMX-4 mission simulation for data collection

above the Artic region and ISL transmission.

Figure 1: Inter-Satellite Link communication and As primary capacity to be demonstrated, one satellite
constellation architecture demonstrated in GOMX-4. captures data from a certain targeted region and it is
transmitted to the second satellite while it is under
ground station coverage using the ISL. The ISL shall be

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characterized in inter-satellite distances from
approximately 200 km up to line of sight, around 4500
km, using different data rates and transmission power.

During these operations, the relative separation and

station keeping between the two satellites in-orbit is
controlled by propulsive maneuvers from one of the
satellites, GOMX-4B.

The concept of the coordinated operations between the

two GOMX-4 satellites is directly extrapolated to Figure 3: Photos of the Flight Models of GOMX-4A (left)
constellations with satellites distributed in same and and GOMX-4B (right).
different planes to collect or transmit data with
minimum latency between space and ground segments. GOMX-4A layout
The GOMX-4A satellite accommodates the AIS and
GOMX-4 SATELLITES DESIGN ADS-B flight proven receivers together with the 3 Mpx
The GOMX-4 satellites are 6U standard CubeSats with camera. These instruments operate to monitor regions
the same platform components and different payload of interest, like the Artic area, where the ships and
technologies. The satellites, called GOMX-4A and planes information is scarce, commonly determined by
GOMX-4B, are intended respectively for data and estimations about the captured data in populated
images collection for the DALO (The Danish Defence regions.
Acquisition and Logistics Organization) and for
technology demonstration for the European Space For the ISL operations, the satellite includes two patch
Agency (ESA). antennas in every 2U end and the GomSpace Software
Defined Radio (SDR) implementing two innovative
Both satellites apply the same architecture based on the modulation skills for short and long distances. Under
GomSpace 6U platform with only different hardware large distances, the required transmission power to
configuration. One of the main new subsystems is the close the link budget exceed the maximum Power Flux
NanoPower P60, a modular EPS with independent input Density (PFD) allowed by ITU regulations. By this
and output modules connected to a dock allowing reason, for inter-satellite distances above 600 Km, the
various input and output channels with protected and Direct Spread Spectrum architecture is used in the
configurable power channels. On the other hand, the satellites reducing the power transmitted measured in a
ADCS subsystem on-board is an upgraded version for 4 kHz bandwidth in which the PFD is defined.
large cubesat sizes using powerful reaction wheels,
external gyro sensor and adapted to integrate different
star tracker technologies, in addition to the
magnetorquer, sun sensors and magnetometer
successfully used in previous missions. The space-
ground communication capacity of both satellites are
improved by the use of High Speed Link in S-band
which supports the nominal UHF communication link
for uplink and downlink.

On top of these highly capable internal subsystems, this

platform allows different external configurations
including various antennas, sensors, solar panels,
radiation shields and radiative surfaces customized to
the satellite only changing the mounting plate. In this
way, the external components of the 6U platform are
directly scalable to even larger platform or different Figure 4: GOMX-4A internal layout.
structures by only mechanical customization.
The GOMX-4A satellite includes three stacks of
dummy masses to compensate for the mass different
regarding to GOMX-4B, facilitating the similar
dynamics and deorbit behavior for longer operations.

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GOMX-4B layout The two satellites were successfully contacted from the
ground station for first time 6 h and 18 minutes after the
GOMX-4B is the demonstrator satellite for orbit control
maneuver based on the cold-gas 6U propulsion module launch. This corresponded with the second pass above
from NanoSpace. The propellant is sized with around the ground station since communication could not be
established during the first pass due to a combination of
120 grams of butane, intended to compensate
differences in orbit altitude from the launch, to control very low inclination and inaccurate TLE.
the inter-satellite distances in short time, to perform During the first days of in-orbit operations, the main
station keeping and to avoid potential risk collision if functionalities of both satellites were checked,
needed. alternating every step from one satellite to the other
one. This ensured the control and health of both
The ISL payload is identical than the GOMX-4A one
except in the use of only one patch antenna in the simultaneously, but it penalized the progress in the
commissioning phase which shall be improved for
opposite 2U end of the propulsion module.
future constellations by ground station redundancy.

Platform commissioning

Figure 6: Photo of the GomSpace 6U platform and

payloads during the GOMX-4A integration.

All platform subsystems of GOMX-4A and GOMX-4B

were commissioned during the first 3 weeks of
operations. There, the on-board computer (NanoMind
Figure 5: GOMX-4B internal layout.
A3200), the two ground communication links for UHF
Additionally, this satellite also includes three payloads and S-band (NanoCom AX100 and NanoCom SR2000)
for technology demonstration: the Chimera board by and the power subsystem (NanoPower P60) were
ESA to analyze COTS memory behavior under tracked while performing optimum behavior in any of
radiative space environment, the HyperScout camera their different modes and software features.
from Cosine for hyperspectral images and the Star
In the same way, every component of the attitude
Tracker from ISIS for high accuracy attitude determination and control subsystem was activated and
determination. characterized to proceed with the in-orbit calibration
Since the technology demonstration phase of GOMX- and pointing accuracy determination during the 4 weeks
4B is planned for 6 months, an extra transceiver in the after.
Software Defined Radio for ISL operations is included
Between the main achievements from the 6U platform
to extend the lifetime of this satellite by ADS-B data components commissioning, it is possible to highlight
acquisition for commercial purposes. the optimum Maximum Power Point Tracking mode of
the NanoPower P60 which allows to gain around 20%
LAUNCH AND EARLY ORBIT PHASE (LEOP)
of the input power optimizing the peak voltage and the
The two GOMX-4 satellites were successfully launched S-band link with ground station which is successfully
on 2nd February 2018 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch established even in elevations below 20 degrees.
Centre (JSLC) in the Long March 2D-Y13, deploying
consecutively GOMX-4A and GOMX-4B from the
common PSL-P deployer as expected.

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ATTITUDE & ORBIT CONTROL Commissioning Review was performed for the
After 6 weeks of commissioning operations and with operations kick-off.
the ADCS in-orbit calibrated, the propulsion payload
Step 2.- The corresponding retrograde burning was
was commissioned to perform orbit control of the
performed burning the thrusters during 7 minutes until
GOMX-4B satellite.
GOMX-4B reached similar altitude than GOMX-4A
within an accuracy between 150 and 50 meters
according to the TLEs.

Step 3.- The altitude difference within the achieved

accuracy of the maneuver caused a slow drift of the
satellites towards one other. At this point, the satellites
decreased their separation distance until GOMX-4A
passed GOMX-4B allowing the use of ISL without
changing the nominal RAM attitude due to the
advantage of 2 ISL patch antennas included in GOMX-
4A.

Step 4.- After reaching the minimum inter-satellite

distance, a new prograde maneuver was performed
burning for 3 minutes and 24 seconds to raise GOMX-
4B around 300 meters above GOMX-4A. This
maneuver was planned to set the initial separation
distance and drift for the ISL experiments in the first
phase of payloads operations.

Step 5.- The mission operations phase starts with a

separation rate of around 35 Km per day to perform the
Figure 7: GOMX-4 satellites altitude and distance first phase of ISL tests, evaluating the link from 250
evolution from TLE within the first 4 month of operations. Km up to 1500 Km within 1-month timeframe.

The figure 7 shows the orbit altitude and inter-satellite The use of this 6U propulsion module for first time has
distance of the two GOMX-4 satellites identifying the showed very successful results with a good orbit control
following relevant changes: and high accuracy in the reached total thrust. The
satellite behavior shows very similar response than the
Step 0.- Initial deployment of the two satellites from the simulations performed with GMAT.
launcher, releasing GOMX-4B 30 seconds after
GOMX-4A. This sequence placed GOMX-4B in an One of the main lessons learned about these propulsion
orbit 340 meters below GOMX-4A causing a fast drift maneuvers is the saturation of the reaction wheels at
between the satellites of around 60 Km separation 4000 rpm which has been reached during firing longer
increase per day. than 3.5 minutes. Therefore, all the burning performed
in this mission has been split in several consecutive
Step 1.- The Propulsion module commissioning and the steps of less than that duration until the desired total
first maneuver to correct the initial drift was split in burning time and targeted orbit is reached.
three steps. Firstly, the system health was checked by
activation and telemetry tracking and, then, first short On the other hand, the accuracy of more than 50 meters
prograde burning of all the thrusters during 1 minute of for the propulsion maneuvers could be improved using
duration evaluating the orbit change. Once the satellite the GPS signal, which was used only during the first
raised its orbit altitude as expected, the thrusters were prograde maneuver (step 1) for payload evaluation.
burnt for the rest of 9 minutes and 10 seconds until the After the competition of the first phase of ISL testing,
satellite reached an altitude 350 meters above GOMX- the propulsion module will be used for station keeping
4A. This reversed the drift of the satellites targeting with higher accuracy requirements where the GPS data
between 250 and 300 Km of separation distance in 1- will be added in the AOCS for a more accurate control.
month timeframe for the operations phase. During this
month, payloads were commissioned, and the In-Orbit

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PAYLOADS OPERATION RESULTS For this limitation, the ISL experiment is divided in two
different phases: the short distance where the nominal
Inter-Satellite Link operations QPSK modulation is used and the long distances above
In coordination of the propulsion maneuvers for orbit 600 Km where the Direct Spread Spectrum (DSS)
control, the two satellites perform S-band modulation scheme is implemented reducing the impact
communications between them as the main mission of the RF power in the Earth surface.
operation, to characterize the link within a variety of
During this first month of operations in the GOMX-4
distances, data rates and transmission power. These
results are directly applicable for constellation mission, the short distance ISL payload had been tested
application where the minimum latency without using the nominal 0.5 W transmission power and
varying the datarate from 100kBd up to 1250kBd under
increase in the number of ground station is the driving
500 Km of inter-satellite distances. Results are
element.
represented in the figure 10 showing the obtained Bit
The link budget depends on the pointing error reached Error Rate (BER) in the various datarates used.
which, for this mission, should be below 19 degrees
which is the worst case scenario with both satellites
pointing NADIR and not tracking to each other. The
figure 8 shows the link margin within the targeted inter-
satellite distances range establishing the link in the
maximum targeted distance of 4500 Km with 2.4 kbit
and a margin of 1.8 dB. Changing the pointing to ideal
pointing (pointing error = 0) the calculation of the link
margin for the same case show an increase to 3.3 dB
which should ensure the success of the communication.
Figure 10. In-orbit results from the ISL test at 500 Km
showing the Bit Error Rate (BER) under the several
datarates tested.

This in-orbit experience and knowledge gained from the

GOMX-4 mission address the link characterization and
potential improvements for scaling to more advanced
communication schemes and larger nanosatellite
constellations.
Figure 8. ISL link budget with QPSK modulation, 1.1 W
transmission power and 19 degree pointing error. Maritime and air traffic monitoring
As it was previously described, GOMX-4A includes
However, the ITU regulation limits the RF interference ADS-B and AIS data collection capabilities based on
on the Earth surface, measured by the Power Flux the flight proven receivers, the NanoCom ADS-B and
Density (PFD), which is driven by the transmission the QubeAIS. Both payloads are operating in a
power reaching the Earth during the link. This coordinating way to monitor planes and ships in remote
limitation does not allow to close the link budget with areas where the current infrastructure does not allow to
the nominal QPSK modulation scheme used in low capture data and trajectories are only estimated.
distances since the required transmission power exceeds
the allowed PFD limit. The ADS-B payload was successfully commissioned on
28th February capturing 772529 valid frames and 309
detected planes during 2 minutes in a communication
window above Aalborg Ground Station. Regarding to
the AIS system, it was commissioned on 1st March
collecting 3100 valid AIS messages and identifying
several ships data during 1 orbit in low populated areas
in South America. The identified planes and ships were
correlated with the public databases, validating the
information.
Figure 9. Scheme of the Power Flux Density (PFD) or RF
interference introduced on the Earth surface.

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 Radiation harness experiment
One of the secondary payloads of GOMX-4B is a
radiation harnessing board, called Chimera, developed
by the European Space Agency. This payload is an
electronics board following the PC104 standard
employed in CubeSats with 12 computer flash
memories from 4 different COTS types.

The board is continuously in operation mode during all

the duty cycle, recording and transmitting the
performance of those memories under space radiation.
Figure 11. Representation of the planes, ships and photo During its first two months of operations, no failures of
frames captured around the Globe with GOMX-4A. the memories have been identified.
As it is showed in the figure 11, the GOMX-4A
payloads are currently in full operational phase
collecting data continuously in different predefined
areas. In addition to the obtained data, the main added
value of this demonstration is the in-orbit validation of
operation automatization as well as the establishment of
customer interface to adapt the operations and deliver
the data satisfying the needs of clients.

RGB Images
The RGB camera on-board of GOMX-4A, the
NanoCam 70mm, was commissioned 3 weeks after Figure 13. Photo of the Chimera payload Flight Model
launch providing good quality images. accommodated in GOMX-4B satellite.

Once the full ADCS calibration was performed, the This research about COTS memories behavior in
camera took several frames of different part of radiation will drive to a better knowledge about the
Denmark to verify its functionality and optimize the most convenient commercial components for New
parameter selection. The camera can take pictures under Space applications.
different color values, brightness and exposure times
depending on the conditions and purposes of the Hyperspectral images
images. GOMX-4B includes the first ever hyperspectral image
capturing capabilities using the the HyperScout camera
from Cosine in the Netherlands.

The camera was commissioned on 20th March by

commanding an image captured above Scotland. The
image was successfully captured but only a small part
of it was downloaded to occupy less than 2 MB. The
downloaded part was offset from the target one and, by
this reason, a second similar test was performed above
Cuba with a full image size to download.

The instrument shows nominal behavior and the images

downloaded to date show a high quality of the
instrument whose operation phase is on-going.
Figure 12. Photo captured above the east coast of Jutland
(Denmark) by the NanoCam on-board of GOMX-4A.

During the GOMX-4A operations, this camera shall be

adjusted to study its optimum performance for images
during day and night. Additionally, images capturing
also complements the monitoring of certain regions
under client request.

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 flying in nanosatellites missions for several years. The
results would ensure the proper behavior of the device
for use in future missions or it would raise the need of
considering alternative solutions to the out of
production device in case of not provided the desired
performance.

This verification was performed on 6th March 2018 by

data collection of the nominal OEM615 for an orbit
before a communication pass, changing the active
GNSS receiver during the pass to the new OEM719 and
collecting same data from the new receiver also during
Figure 14. Photo of the integration and alignment of the an orbit.
HyperScout camera in GOMX-4B Flight Model.

During the operations, the HyperScout camera is

intended to demonstrate its full capacity of frames
acquisition as well as perform several software
compression and features to optimize its operations.

Star Tracker characterization

The Star Tracker secondary payload developed by
Innovative Solutions In Space (ISIS) is being in-orbit
demonstrated for first time during the GOMX-4B
operations phase. This satellite is also ready to utilize
this attitude determination sensor to improve the
Absolute Knowledge Error (AKE) to around 30 Figure 15. Position error of the flight proven GNSS
receiver (OEM615) versus the new generation (OEM719).
arcseconds, and Absolute Performance Error (APE) to
approximately 0.1 degrees of accuracy (1-sigma). The correlated data is showed in figure 15, representing
the position error in meters of the two GPS signals
The payload was subjected to an early commissioning
regarding the TLE during those consecutives orbits
phase, checking the telemetry and health status during
separated by the communication pass above the ground
short and long period and capturing a photo of the stars.
station. During this test, a major number of points was
The results were successful, and the payload is now
collected for the OEM719 than the OEM615 for further
scheduled for further in-orbit operations which will
evaluation of the new device and, by this reason, the
characterize the attitude determination accuracy, the
density of both curves is different. The results show
optical capacities to capture the dark sky and the sensor
perfect continuity between the position error curves
utilization under different spin rates.
from the two devices, confirming similar behavior.
ADDITIONAL EXPERIMENTS
It should be noticed in the previous plot that the error
For maximum advantage of the mission demonstration, value can not be taken to evaluate the performance of
additional experiments with secondary priority have the receiver since the propagation of the TLE introduce
been included in the GOMX-4 mission for direct different error values every orbit and only the smooth
application in coming missions. continuation of both curves with similar error trend can
be considered for this validation.
Validation of the new generation of GNSS receiver
The GOMX-4A includes an extra GNSS receiver, the After this validation, this new OEM719 is considered a
new OEM719 from Novatel, which is going to replace redundant sensor for the nominal functionality of the
the flight proven previous version, the Novatel satellite and it is ready to be used replacing the nominal
OEM615 also on-board the same satellite. Every of one in case of need.
these GNSS on-board receivers has independent
External treatment impact in thermal behavior
antenna and connection to the attitude control computer
decoupling the responses of both devices. The growth of the capabilities of nanosatellites is
causing an increase of the required power and,
The new GNSS receiver is verified in this mission by naturally, it also drives to increase the released heat to
comparing its response versus the nominal receiver dissipate to space.

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A good example of this situation is GOMX-4B which
includes an operational mode to transfer data from the
HyperScout payload to the S-band radio whose duty
cycle must be limited by the amount of released heat to
not exceed the temperature range of these components.

This is the motivation to perform an indirect experiment

in this mission analyzing the different thermal response
of two different coatings applied in external mechanical
parts with diverse optical properties. Therefore, external
mechanical components of GOMX-4A were chromate
conversion coated and most of the corresponding ones Figure 18. GOMX-4A external temperature distribution
in GOMX-4B were black anodized, giving different during no payload operational mode.
color to the satellites. Since both satellites are in similar
orbit and they include same components for the 6U Currently, the early results from external temperatures
platform, it would be possible along the mission to distribution measured in the coarse and fine sun sensors
operate them simultaneously with same dissipated heat shows an average temperature different of GOMX-4B
by activating only the platform components and the around 10 degrees colder than GOMX-4A. However,
corresponding temperature evolution would offer direct further analysis must be performed for detailed
feedback about the effect of external treatment. conclusions since, due to main operations constraints,
the temperatures are measured under same operational
mode but different attitude, with GOMX-4B in RAM
attitude and GOMX-4A in 30 degrees canted RAM.

In any case, it is clear that the externally black anodized

satellite trends to a few degrees colder average
temperature as it was predicted by thermal simulations.

CHALLENGES AND CONCLUSIONS

The in-orbit results and experience from the GOMX-4
mission are a very relevant driver to increase maturity
of miniaturized space technologies and to run future
Figure 16. Photo of the GOMX-4A (left) externally
nanosatellite constellations in Europe.
chromate conversion coated and GOMX-4B (right)
externally black anodized.
This experience is also showing the complexity and
The two different coatings were thermally characterized challenges to solve for up-scaled missions coordinating
by optical test. The results show values for absorptance a large number of satellites. In this regard, some of the
and emissivity of 0.71 and 0.84 respectively for the main lessons under learning and improving process are:
black anodization applied in GOMX-4B while the
- Optimization of the verification processes is
chromate conversion coated in GOMX-4A shows 0.46
one of the biggest challenges found in
and 0.25.
nanosatellites missions. For GOMX-4, the
Proto-Flight Model approach introduced an
additional complexity and risk for
environmental and functional test campaigns,
but it also reduced cost and time to develop the
mission. This approach was possible by
identifying good balance in testing and levels
to minimize the risks ensuring the proper and
safe quality for the flight. At the same time,
the availability of a flatsat with the core
platform components and payload models
allows to test software and updates during
Figure 17. GOMX-4B external temperature distribution development and in-orbit operations in
during no payload operational mode. parallel. This subject is an open process
subjected to improvement from the missions

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 and adding the main identified tests which actions up to the client interface for data
could have helped and accelerated the AIV delivery, which will give an important
phase and operations. advantage especially in missions involving
several satellites. This is one of the most
- First days after launch involve high relevant values for future commercial missions
complexity due to lack of accurate TLE until since it enables the full exploitation of
a later stage and the criticality of the activities nanosatellite services and constellations
to carry out. This is driving to the more applications.
extensive use of the GPS device in an
autonomous way to implement TLE These on-going improvements and acquired knowledge
computations for the space and ground during the GOMX-4 mission demonstrate its relevance
segment. This solution involves higher in the nanosatellite sector in Europe. On the other hand,
complexity of the first passes management, it also shows the importance of the in-orbit
increasing the initial power consumption of the demonstration projects to establish by experience the
system and the complexity of the autonomous required bases for commercial exploitation and
satellite in-orbit deployment phase. professional use of CubeSats. They do not only show
the feasibility of challenging technologies on-board
- Sharing a ground station for both satellites these reduced-size satellites, they also allow to include
under same frequencies challenged the additional secondary investigations to solve potential
utilization of the passes, especially during the problems for the forthcoming nanosatellite generation.
LEOP when contacting with both satellites as
simultaneous as possible was a key factor to Acknowledgments
minimize the waiting time for operations. This
The GOMX-4 mission is developed inside the internal
challenge can be addressed in the next
IOD mission program from GomSpace.
missions by automating the main initial
functions and the change of the satellite The GOMX-4B project is supported by the European
operations to communicate reducing the Space Agency under GSTP fund with contract number
needed time for manual actions or by use RFQ/NC/IPL-PTE/GLC/as/774.2015 and RFQ/3-
different frequencies for consecutive satellites 14481/16/NL/GLC/ for phases A-B and C-F
adapting the ground station for this use. respectively. It should be highlighted the valuable
contribution and support of ESA during the
- The schedule for communication windows development of the project and the 6U platform
can drive operation difficulties often components, helping to ensure an appropriate quality
coinciding with inconvenient night passes and, level for the success of the mission.
since it is determined by the launch conditions,
they cannot always be selected for a We would also like to show our gratitude to all the
convenient smooth mission. This was exactly GOMX-4 team from the different entities, including
the case of GOMX-4 mission experiencing the GOMSPACE, ESA ESTEC, NANOSPACE, COSINE,
communication passes above the main ground ISIS and SATLAB, for the dedication and excellent
station in Aalborg during afternoon and very work environment, thanks to which this project has
late night due to the final launch parameters been possible and successful.
fixed for piggy-back satellites. For this case,
the automatization of non-critical activities References
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