Asset Publisher

Industrial involvement in the Rosetta mission

Industrial involvement in the Rosetta mission

Industrial involvement in Rosetta. Credit: ESA

The Rosetta spacecraft was built by an industrial team led by prime contractor Astrium GmbH, Friedrichshafen, Germany, and involving more than 50 contractors from 14 European countries and the USA. Major subcontractors were Astrium Ltd. who built the spacecraft platform, Astrium France who supplied the spacecraft avionics and Alenia Spazio, Turin, Italy, for assembly, integration and verification. Canada participated in the construction of ESA's first 35 m-diameter Deep Space Antenna in Australia, which was built for Rosetta. Scientific consortia from institutes across Europe and the United States provided the 11 experiments for the orbiter.

The lander, Philae, was provided by a European consortium headed by the German Aerospace Research Institute (DLR). Other members of the consortium are ESA, CNES, ASI, and institutes from Austria, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

This page lists the industrial involvement in the Rosetta Orbiter and the mission's ground segment. 

The industrial involvement in the Philae Lander is detailed on a separate dedicated page.

 

Rosetta Orbiter and Ground Segment
 

   Australia

Contractor Contracted Item
Telstra New Norcia antenna
Western Power New Norcia antenna

 

   Austria

Contractor Contracted Item
Austrian Aerospace Telemetry and telecommand special check-out equipment (SCOE)
Multi-layer insulation
Steyr Daimler Puch Louvres
Siemens Special check-out equipment (SCOE)

 

   Belgium

Contractor Contracted Item
Alcatel ETCA Attitude and orbit control measurement system interface unit (AIU) DC/DC hybrids
Remote terminal unit (RTU) DC/DC hybrids
AMOS Batteries
Logica Support to avionics
Nexans (formerly Alcatel Fabrisys) Spacecraft harness
Rhea Consultancy support
Spacebel Software validation facility (SVF) - software development environment (SDE) design specification

 

   Canada

Contractor Contracted Item
SED System inc. New Norcia antenna

 

   Denmark

Contractor Contracted Item
Terma Lead of central checkout system (CCS)
Power control unit
Software validation facility (SVF)
Turbinegarden Database engineering support

 

   Finland

Contractor Contracted Item
Patria Finavitec Power distribution unit / thermal control unit (PDU/TCU)
Platform structure

 

   France

Contractor Contracted Item
Alcatel Support to Prime contractor (Astrium GmbH)
Pressurant tanks
Pressure regulator
Astrium SAS Central checkout system (CCS) software
Avionics major subcontractor Lead
Solid state mass memory (SSMM) memory boards
SEP Transducer
Thomson Tube Electronics Travelling wave tube amplifier (TWTA) tubes

 

   Germany

Contractor Contracted Item
ASE Solar array
Astrium GmbH Thrusters (10N)
Prime Lead
Propellant tanks
System Consulting Lander support
Timetech Ultra stable oscillator (USO)

 

   Hungary

Contractor Contracted Item
KFKI Lander support

 

   Ireland

Contractor Contracted Item
Captec Independent software validation facility (SVF)

 

   Italy

Contractor Contracted Item
Alenia Assembly, integration and verification (AIV) major subcontractor Lead
Transponder
Officine Galileo (formerly FIAR)  Navigation camera & startracker Lead
Solar array photovoltaic assembly (PVA)
TOPREL Coordinated part procurement agency

 

   The Netherlands

Contractor Contracted Item
Bradford Back-up landing gear
Chess Software validation facility (SVF) sham board specification
Software validation facility (SVF) Sun Silver maintenance
Fokker Solar array
Satellite Services Telemetry/telecommand (TM/TC) fee
RF suitcase
Spacecraft interface simulator (SIS) equipment
TNO-TPD Sun acquisition sensor

 

   Norway

Contractor Contracted Item
Det Norske Veritas Reliability, availability, maintainability and safety (RAMS) tasks
Kongsberg Solar array drive mechanism (SADM) equipment
Supply of ground support equipment (GSE) and support
Prototech Structural thermal model (STM) dummies
Raufoss Valves

 

   Spain

Contractor Contracted Item
Alcatel Espacio Radio frequency distribution unit (RFDU)/waveguide interface unit (WIU)
Solar array drive electronics (SADE)
Attitude and orbit control system (AOCS) interface unit (AIU)
Remote terminal unit (RTU)
CASA Medium-gain antenna
Crisa Startracker & navigation camera electronic unit
Sener Startracker & navigation camera baffle
Hipparcos recommendation
Experiment booms
Louvres
Tecnológica Coordinated part procurement agency

 

   Sweden

Contractor Contracted Item
Saab Ericsson Space High-gain antenna
Low-gain antenna
Command and data management unit (CDMU) lead
Solid state mass memory (SSMM) lead

 

   Switzerland

Contractor Contracted Item
Alcatel ETCA Travelling wavetube amplifier (TWTA)
Alcatel Space Electrical ground support equipment (EGSE) simulator
APCO Mechanical ground support equipment (MGSE)
Quality assurance (QA) co-location for structural thermal model (STM), assembly, integration and test (AIT)
Captec Independent software validation (ISV) engineering support
Clemessy Power pyro special check-out equipment (SCOE)
Test batteries
Contraves Solar array
Thermal support
ETEL Antenna pointing mechanism electronics (APME) for high-gain antenna
Helbling Software quality assurance (QA)
HTS High-gain antenna
Mecanex Brackets
Reliability engineering support
RST Software development environment (SDE) tools procurement

 

   United Kingdom

Contractor Contracted Item
AEA Technologies Batteries
Astrium Ltd. Platform major subcontractor lead
Reaction wheel unit
BAE Systems (formally MRC) High-gain antenna
Hunting/Insys Alternative landing gear equipment
Logica Onboard software autonomy
Polyflex Non-return valves
Satasint Support of assembly, integration and verification (AIV) team
SciSys Satellite control and operations system
Vega Support of assembly, integration and verification (AIV) team
Electrical ground support equipment (EGSE) support

 

   United States

Contractor Contracted Item
Conax Pyro valves
Honeywell Inertial measurement package
Starsys Louvres
Vacco Filters

 

Last Update: 1 September 2019
19-Mar-2024 08:14 UT

ShortUrl Portlet

Shortcut URL

https://sci.esa.int/s/Aj6GvYA

Images And Videos

Related Publications

Related Links

Documentation

Further Readings