Juice
01
Exploring the Mysteries of Jupiter’s Moons
The JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer) mission is an ambitious project led by the European Space Agency (ESA) with contributions from NASA and other international partners. Launched on April 14th 2023, JUICE will explore Jupiter and its icy moons, specifically Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto. Equipped with a suite of scientific instruments, JUICE will conduct detailed investigations to understand the moons’ geological activity, subsurface oceans, and potential habitability. JUICE will employ multiple flybys and an extended orbit around Ganymede to perform close-up observations to uncover its internal structure, magnetic field, and icy crust.
The JUICE mission promises to be a milestone in the exploration of the outer solar system, unraveling the mysteries of Jupiter’s icy moons and shedding light on the potential for extraterrestrial life within our own cosmic neighborhood.
DSI designs, develops, manufactures and qualifies the Solid State Mass Memory (SSMM) of the Command and Data Management Subsystem (CDMS). The SSMM is responsible for cross-strapping and switching of SpaceWire links, storage and retrieval from mass memory section (several sources and destinations), processing for downlink (CFDP PDU generation, Ka-band TM encoding) and control and monitoring.
Plato
02
Exploring Exoplanets and the Secrets of Star Systems
PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) is a ESA mission that aims to discover and study exoplanets. With a set of telescopes, PLATO will simultaneously monitor thousands of stars, detecting planetary transits and characterizing a variety of exoplanets, including Earth-sized ones in habitable zones. The mission aims to understand exoplanetary system formation, evolution, and the potential for habitable environments beyond our solar system. PLATO will also study stellar oscillations to gain insights into star properties. By providing continuous and precise data over an extended period, PLATO will advance our knowledge of exoplanets and their host stars, contributing to the search for habitable worlds and enhancing our understanding of planetary systems in the galaxy.
DSI designed, developed, manufactured and qualified the Solid State Mass Memory (SSMM).
MASCOT
03
Landing on the Ryugu-Asteroid within the Hayabusa2 Mission
Mascot (Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout) is a compact lander developed by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in collaboration with the French space agency (CNES) as part of the Hayabusa2 mission led by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency). Mascot was deployed on the asteroid Ryugu in October 2018. It’s equipped with scientific instruments to study the asteroid’s surface properties, composition, and environmental conditions.
DSI designed and manufactured the dual-redundant onboard computer for MASCOT. Its functionality comprises the gathering, compression and storage of the scientific payload and the housekeeping data and to run subsystem tasks or applications.
Artemis/Gateway I‑Hab
04
A vital living and research space module in the lunar Gateway
One of ESA’s contributions to the Lunar Gateway is the international habitat I‑Hab. The pressurized module will provide living quarters for visiting astronauts as well as docking ports for vehicles and other modules.
DSI designs, develops, manufactures and qualifies the PDHU which would be responsible for data acquisition and data storage from the instruments on-board the habitat module of the Lunar Gateway. I‑Hab also marks DSI’s first involvement in human space flight.
“Building the central mass memory for the ESA mission Juice was very challenging and exiting, since the need date to finish the activities was driven by very harsh launch constraints. Finally it was very amazing to see the launch of the satellite, which only had an 8‑second launch window.”
Sebastian Brandt
Director Projects