Research description and expected impacts

• The RAMSES mission (Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety) of ESA aims to approach the asteroid Apophis during its close flyby of Earth, which will occur on 13 April 2029.
• Near the asteroid, the RAMSES spacecraft will deploy two CubeSats; RCS-1 (RAMSES CubeSat 1) is one of them.

Main DAER contributions

Within the RCS-1 Phase A/B/C project, DAER is responsible for:

1. Studying and designing a camera onboard the CubeSat for the mapping and characterization of Apophis;
2. Performing the design and mission analysis of the RCS-1 CubeSat;
3. Performing the design and verification of the Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) subsystem of RCS-1.

Funding organization

European Space Agency (ESA), under contract with Tyvak International.

Covered SDGs

#9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure