CubeSat Payload
Hamburg Automated Northern lights Survey
HANS is the autonomous aurora hunter flying on our first CubeSat. It captures northern lights imagery, judges each frame onboard, and prioritizes the data that matters most for downlink.
Note that the information on this page will likely change during further mission development.
Our aurora payload uses a wide-field camera paired with onboard processing to decide when conditions match science criteria and which images deserve precious downlink time. By filtering and ranking data in orbit, HANS squeezes maximum value out of every watt and byte.
- ✦ Realtime aurora detection to trigger image capture.
- ✦ Onboard scoring that ranks frames for prioritized downlink.
- ✦ Commercial-off-the-shelf components tested in orbital conditions.
- ✦ Designed to conserve power, storage, and downlink bandwidth.
Guiding Principle
Autonomy First
HANS minimizes reliance on ground commanding by letting algorithms decide when to collect, store, and transmit data. That approach keeps operations simple and agile during short CubeSat passes.
What We Measure
Auroras
The camera captures auroral activity. Each frame is tagged with context so we can refine our onboard triggers for future in-orbit updates.
Why It Matters
Pathfinder for THHOR
HANS proves our avionics, software stack, and operations model in orbit. The lessons feed directly into future payloads and help us validate components that could outperform traditional space hardware.
1. Design & Prototyping
Currently electrical, mechnical and software systems are under Development with first protoypes in sight.
2. Onboard Intelligence
Our firmware will integrate image scoring for prioritized storage and transmission, as well as health monitoring hooks that keep the payload responsive in orbit.
3. CubeSat Integration
We will integrate our sub systems in our CubeSat structure. After in-house testing the finished satellite will be shipped off to externally mandatet tests
4. Launch & Operations
After integrating with our launch provider, HANS will be send to orbit, where it will deploy and communicate with our Ground Station.