The launch of ESA´s SWARM satellites on a Rockot launcher in northern Russia was set for November 22nd 2013. A team of experts from the SCISYS Space division closely followed this event with great interest as SCISYS is involved in both the Ground Segment Mission Control System and the on-board software of the satellites.

As GDS-7 Prime Contractor, SCISYS has been actively involved in the design and development of the SWARM Mission Control System deployed at ESOC. In particular, SCISYS has responsibility for the Mission Planning System and Onboard Software Management. Development already started in 2008 and SCISYS staff members are now part of the support team for the launch and LEOP phases.

SCISYS on-board software will be responsible for monitoring the orbit and controlling the attitude of the three SWARM satellites in flight, as well as handling all of their communications with the ground segment. SCISYS has been involved throughout all the stages of the SWARM on-board software development, from initial analysis of the requirements and writing the code to validation of the software up to system level using a complete spacecraft simulator.
During the launch two members of the SCISYS on-board software team are on standby to support ESA and Astrium during the launch and early operations of the mission.

Swarm is ESA’s first constellation of Earth observation satellites to advance our understanding of how Earth works. The three Swarm satellites will measure precisely the magnetic signals that stem from Earth’s core, mantle, crust and oceans, as well as its ionosphere and magnetosphere.