Mission
The Flying Laptop is a technology demonstrator small satellite being developed by the Institute of Space Systems of the Universität Stuttgart. The satellite is basically a 60cm side cube weighting around 100kg. The launch is planned for the end of 2006, pursuing a polar, sun-synchronous, low earth orbit below 1000 km.

The goals of the Flying Laptop is evaluation of technologies, such as:
  • FPGA on-board computer
  • High speed Ka-band communication
  • Solar cells
  • High accurate attitude control system
  • GENIUS - GPS experiment
  • ‘Rent-a-sat’ mode

The satellite also includes the following science experiments:
  • BRDF measurement
  • Precipitation measurement using Ka & Ku-band
  • Atmospheric attenuation in the Ka-band frequency      range
  • Multispectral earth observation
  • Near Earth Objects

Case Study
Active Space Technologies is contributing to the development of the Flying Laptop, having already performed the preliminary dimensioning of the space radiator, and analysing the thermal performance of the satellite.