Internal Critical Design Review of the SOURCE Project

Internal Critical Design Review of the SOURCE Project

On 8th June 2020, the internal Critical Design Review (CDR) of SOURCE took place. Unlike usual, it was not held on site at the Institute of Space Systems at the University of Stuttgart (IRS), but via online presentation.

The aim of the day was to complete project phase C, during which the final design of the satellite was established. In addition to a project milestone for SOURCE, the review represented a study achievement at the end of the semester for all participants in the key qualification offered. The date of the review was delayed due to the corona regulations and the impact on the University of Stuttgart.

In addition to the reviewers who came from OHB and Airbus as well as from DLR Bremen, TU Berlin, DHBW Ravensburg, OBSPM (Observatiore de Paris) and Baylor University, the SOURCE team also welcomed numerous guests, including the ESA Education Office and students from the other Fly YourSatellite! participants.

The review started with the presentation of all subsystems and further information from the system engineers and the team management. Within about two hours, the current status of work on the entire satellite system was presented. In the afternoon, reviewers had time to ask questions and discuss the presentation.

In the end, the review board members voted to issue a conditional pass as a result. A detailed, written report will be compiled soon.

It is now necessary to close all RIDs (review item discrepancies, ambiguities or errors in concept, plan or documentation) up to the beginning of the CDR in the Fly Your Satellite! programme in order to pass it as directly as possible. Since SOURCE has been running for two years now, but has only been part of the Fly Your Satellite! programme of the ESA Education Office since February 2020, this internal review took place ahead of the CDR in the Fly Your Satellite! programme, which will follow in September.

The SOURCE team thanks all guests and especially the reviewers for the interest and commitment with which they made the CDR of SOURCE possible.

The SOURCE project is carried out with the support of the Education Office of the European Space Agency, under the educational Fly Your Satellite! Programme.

Further information

  • KSat Stuttgart – https://www.ksat-stuttgart.de/en/
  • Intitute of Space Systems – https://www.irs.uni-stuttgart.de/institut/
  • Fly Your Satellite! – https://www.esa.int/Education/CubeSats_-_Fly_Your_Satellite