Polish Contribution to the BRITE Constellation: LEM and HEWELIUSZ spacecraft

Space Research Centre together with Nicolas Copernicus Astronomical Center – both institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences joined the BRITE consortium in 2010 by developing two nano-satellites that were part of the Austrian-Canadian and Polish constellation of astronomical spacecraft. While SRC provided the engineering support, NCAC was responsible for the scientific side of the mission, comprising star model generation, simulation and interpretation, mission control centre operation, data collection, processing and archiving. Out of two Polish spacecraft, LEM was built according to the original blueprint provided by the Spaceflight Laboratory of the University of Toronto, while HEWELIUSZ differed from all other spacecraft in the BRITE constellation by the Polish-made telescope and the radiation shield prepared with the assistance of two Polish nuclear physics institutes. Additionally, it was equipped with the suit of technological experiments that were to be tested upon the completion of the BRITE scientific mission. The contribution of Polish spacecraft to the benefit of the whole constellation could be assessed by the efficiency of radiation protection implemented on board the HEWELIUSZ spacecraft which to this day is the best-performing spacecraft in the BRITE constellation, as well as the noise-reducing algorithms introduced by Polish scientists. In the course of the BRITE project, CBK PAN was involved in solving several issues related to different aspects of the mission. As an example, the identification of sources of interference in the communication link was supported by the original analysis. It correlated a hypothetical source of disturbance with radar systems across Europe. CBK PAN also took part in disseminating data collected by BRITE satellites, adding a channel for data distribution within the ‘Open Space’ initiative. It is worth adding that even for satellites retired by astronomers, BRITE satellites are still considered potential objects of science-related activities in the field of space debris detection and identification.