EnduroSat: Empowering space access
EnduroSat has played a pivotal role in the YPSat project. Through innovative software architecture, EnduroSat and the YPSat team overcame challenges, underscoring the importance of transparent communication and effective collaboration in the space industry.
Focused on engineering, building and operating nanosatellites, EnduroSat was founded in 2015 and today serves more than 250 global clients. The way their modules work relies on multi-master level software architecture, meaning that all components can become masters and request (or send) data to the other modules. This prevents single-point-of-failures and dramatically increases success rates.
The company is a key contributor tp YPSat, involved throughout the entire project. They were present with the ESA Young Professionals team before and after the purchase of components such as the S-band Transmitter and the S-band antennas. They provided technical support regarding the onboard computer and the needed Software Development Kit.
We believe that access to Space should be a fundamental human right - Team EnduroSat
During the collaboration, various challenges were encountered and successfully addressed. A noteworthy occurrence was the unusual sequence of acquisitions of the components. The YPSat team purchased the S-band transmitter after the onboard computer was already delivered. It has created an issue as these components had to be simultaneously configured and tested in order to meet the project objectives. Transparency in communications between the teams and swift decisions helped to solve the problem in a timely manner.
Another key challenge of the collaboration was the extremely short lead time EnduroSat had to comply with. Indeed, they had an interval of 2-4 weeks’ time to deliver the components, while the standard interval for delivery during the time of this procurement was between 10-16 weeks.
Fulfilling this was made possible by strict timeline management from both the EnduroSat and YPSat teams.
“It was easy to work with the YPSat team because the communication was very transparent and the team members knew what the requirements for the mission are, which helped us provide valuable feedback.” - Stanislav Dimitrov, Space Systems Engineer for EnduroSat
Overall, the partnership between YPSat and the EnduroSat team proved to be enduring and productive. A key takeaway from this collaboration is the importance of consistent dialogue and clearly defined requirements for successful teamwork.