Design, manufacture and putting into orbit of DRAGO: a near-infrared earth observation camera

In force date
Call year
2017
Investigator
Pablo Gustavo
Redondo Caicoya
Financial institution
Amount granted to the IAC Consortium
70000 €
Description

Within ALISIO project, which started in 2018, a new instrument called DRAGO is being developed. DRAGO is an Earth Observation camera, valid for operation in a low orbit (~600 km). This camera operates in the infrared range up to 1.6 micron and it is compatible with the CubeSat standard, fitting in platform CubeSat 3U+. The completion of this project has a double goal. Firstly, to demonstrate the capability of observing in the near infrared from a nanosatellite, opening the doors to the creation of constellations and the commercialization of the developed camera, since this wavelength range is not currently available from nanosatellites despite of having plenty of applications that cannot be covered in the visible range. Secondly, to enable the IACTEC-Space team for its participation in more complex space projects through the complete development of a spatial instrument under international design standards.