Initial submission

With increasing automation and demand for energy efficiency, new digital measurement solutions are more pertinent than ever for monitoring and process optimisations. Existing products based on current monitoring lack flexibility and are costly to install. Due to the operating principle, these sensors can only measure the current in a single conductor of a cable. Therefore, these systems are unsuitable for many businesses, especially for retrofits because of cost and complexity. Based on space technology deployed as part of ESA’s Rosetta Mission, PhySens GmbH developed a contactless, non-invasive and easily retrofittable sensor solution for current measurement. By simply mounting the sensor on a cable, it measures the currents in all conductors simultaneously using high-precision magnetic field data. As a result, this new sensor solution can detect and classify anomalies in current profiles caused by e.g. faulty motors or seized bearings in hard-to-access or sealed machinery. This is vital for intelligent load management and predictive maintenance as part of industrial automation.

Initial submission

Skith – Skip the Harness (Harnessless Satellite)
The harness for satellites has been necessary so far but also costly, heavy and a major risk factor.
Skith aims to create the first wireless satellite, by using short-range, high-speed real-time miniature radio communication links. By combining modular and fault-tolerant software with ultra-wideband technology from Industry 4.0, a robust and adaptable system will be created.

Wall#E – Fibre-Reinforced Spacecraft Walls for Storing Energy
The idea behind Wall#E involves integrating energy storage functions into the support structures of spacecraft, which will significantly reduce the mass and volume of satellites without sacrificing performance.
To this end, Wall#E utilises fibre-reinforced structures (which enjoy more and more popularity in aerospace engineering) infiltrated with innovative solid-state battery materials. While this project’s initial focus is on satellites, the underlying concept can easily be adapted to launch systems, space stations, and groundbased e-mobility applications.

Initial submission

Astronauts are subject to a high level of physical stress in weightlessness. The continuous monitoring of important bodily functions, especially of the cardiovascular system, is therefore urgently required during the stay in space. Findings from space medicine can also be applied to the diagnosis of heart diseases, which are the most common cause of death worldwide. According to the German Federal Statistical Office, the cost of cardiovascular diseases in 2015 amounted to EUR 46.4 billion. Systems currently used for cardiac diagnostics offer only limited possibilities for monitoring high-risk patients or can only be used for inpatient treatment. The “Dr. Beat” project relies on ballistocardiography (BCG), originally developed for space, which can record actual heart function using modern, digital microelectronics. Within the scope of the project, a high-precision and cost-effective BCG sensor system is being developed that can be worn on the body as a “wearable” and enables continuous health monitoring. The extensive signal processing, data evaluation and diagnostics will be automated by means of artificial intelligence (AI) and should not only provide new insights into space medicine but also improve diagnostics and early detection of cardiological diseases in everyday life.

Initial submission

To keep up with the emerging requirements of mass production, mega-constellations and formations of microsatellites, one needs innovative test concepts and production processes. Modern manufacturing techniques from the realm of lndustry 4.0 can open the door to significant productivity gains in high-volume satellite production. The Zentrum für Telematik e.V. (Würzburg) is working on transferring new methods and tools for satellite production into the space sector. The submitted idea is specifically geared towards human-robot collaboration based on the use of a lightweight robot.

Initial submission

With a turnover of USD 156.3 billion ¹, satellite communication is a key component of the global digital economy and is of strategic importance to government and society. The Internet, television, telephony or communication in aviation and shipping rely on highly secure satellite communication networks. However, the encryption methods used in data transmission today are vulnerable, which poses considerable security risks for critical infrastructures in the energy, telecommunications and transport sectors, for example.
Quantum communication generally provides the necessary cyber security for current and future satellite communication systems. However, this has so far been based on the assumption of complete control over the development, manufacture, launch and operation of satellites. The QuMSeC project, carried out by Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Technische Universität Berlin, is intended to set new standards for secure quantum key exchange with the help of quantum storage devices, even for untrustworthy satellites. In the future, customers and users without their own satellite infrastructure should benefit from secure data
communication via satellites.

¹Global Space Economy 2018 (Source: Bryce Space and Technology, 2020)

Initial submission

During the launch and flight of a rocket, vibrations must be reduced to such an extent that they do not damage the payload and structure. Microvibrations interfere with the precision of optical equipment in satellites.
In the Silent Running project, MT Aerospace, OHB-System AG and Fraunhofer LBF pursued the goal of integrating innovative vibration-reducing vibroacoustic metamaterials into the new generations of satellite components and launcher structures in order to resolve the conflicting objectives of lightweight construction and vibration behaviour during the launch and microvibrations
in orbit. Metamaterials combine the advantages of active and passive vibration mitigation and can be used in many industries.

Globally, the need for fast, secure and ubiquitous network connectivity is advancing inexorably. Data networks such as the internet are now largely based on infrastructure on the ground which cannot be expanded arbitrarily for legal, economic or logistical reasons. The future, therefore, calls for an expansion of the existing network infrastructure into air and space. This requires laser communication products to establish the necessary data highways for satellite constellations and other meshed networks in air and space. Mynaric strives to enable global connectivity by leading the industrial age of laser communication and making secure and high-speed optical communication widely available. The Nasdaq- and Frankfurt-listed company produces standardised optical communications terminals for air, space and mobile applications at scale. The company is headquartered in Munich, Germany, with additional locations in Los Angeles, California, and Washington, D.C.

Initial submission

The aerospace sector is trending towards small, standardised satellites (CubeSats) that offer affordable access to space. Their standard edge length of 10 cm does present a disadvantage, however, as it significantly limits the missions these satellites can support. To get around these limitations, deployable structures like antennas or sails are being used, which are deployed once a satellite is in orbit. This opens the door to high-performance applications that are typically only possible with large satellites. Initiating this deployment requires special actuators such as hold-down and release mechanisms. Unfortunately, European actuators are too large for this purpose, and American products are subject to export restrictions. To solve this problem, Deployables Cubed – a new space company at ESA BIC Bavaria – is developing pin-puller and release nut actuators to ensure Europe’s independence with regard to these small actuators and the deployable structures that they make possible. The company plans to establish simple, light, and reliable aerospace actuators on the market and offer them to a broad range of customers.

Initial submission

Every year, 15 million babies are born prematurely and 1 million die even though 75% could have been saved if they had been given proper care. However, modern neonatal care is too complex and costly to be given to all, and simpler, safer, and cheaper medical technology must be developed to end preventable child mortality. A good example of this need is blood gas monitoring, which is an important method to monitor the health of preterm infants, but suffers from considerable complexity and safety problems that limit its usefulness. For example, it requires the skin to be heated to harmful levels and needs to be attached with strong adhesives that risk tearing the skin. We use patented gas sensor technology that we initially developed to look for signs of past or present life on Mars to perform blood gas monitoring in a completely novel way. Thanks to this sensor’s unique properties, our prototype requires neither heating nor adhesives to perform the measurements and, hence, can facilitate both safer and simpler monitoring of the infants’ health.

Initial submission

The rapidly increasing number of commercial satellites, with some 25,000 small satellites for Earth observation and communication services alone in the next few years, poses a completely new scaling problem for component and subsystem suppliers. In addition, Earth observation as well as laser and quantum communication increasingly require high-quality optical subsystems with nanometre precision, such as telescopes, spectrometers or pointing mirrors, to enable high-resolution observation data or increased transmission speeds. SPACEOPTIX GmbH develops and manufactures high-quality opto-mechanical components and systems made of metallic substrates. Compared to alternative materials such as glass or ceramics, the metal optical mirrors and mirror systems offer significantly reduced manufacturing and assembly costs and, by using free-form optical system designs, an excellent ratio between optical imaging quality, mass and volume. As a Fraunhofer IOF spin-off, the aim of SPACEOPTIX GmbH is the technology
transfer of 20 years of applied research in the field of metal optics to industrial standards.