AVIS Space Experiment: Testing of Technologies for the Development and Use of Multifunction Pico- and Nanosatellite Platforms

Abstract

The paper briefly describes the Autonomous Video Information System (AVIS) space experiment conducted as part of the Long-Term Program of Applied Scientific Research and Experiments Planned on the Russian Segment of the International Space Station (ISS RS). The program envisages the development, production, and flight tests of a picosatellite prototype and a sequence of three nanosatellite prototypes with gradually increasing functionality. The main stages include the development of methods and instruments for controlling the separation of the spacecraft, monitoring of their state in an autonomous mode, and experimental testing of the technology of separation, rendezvous, and docking of nanosatellites in orbit. The developed onboard equipment also includes a device for launching pico- and nanosatellites from the ISS RS, manually by an astronaut and by an automatic launcher for nanosatellites from the Progress transport cargo vehicle (TCV), at the command of the ISS or a ground control station. Currently, detailed working design documentation for the spacecraft and the launching device has been created within the experimental program, and work has begun on the production of experimental prototypes.