Minister Halligan congratulates Dublin company on contract to develop a Rate Measurement Unit for Scientific Missions and Commercial Satellites
Dublin, Ireland. – April 24, 2017 – InnaLabs® today is delighted to announce that it has successfully tendered for a contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop a space qualified Rate Measurement Unit (RMU) that will be used for satellite Attitude and Orbit Control Subsystems (AOCS) in a range of future space missions as well as the in the commercial space market.
Speaking at the Enterprise Ireland trade visit to the European Space Agency Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, John Halligan T.D., Ireland’s Minister for Training, Skills & Innovation congratulated the company on its success in securing the ESA contract stating that “the Irish Government’s investment in Research and Innovation has supported the emergence of highly innovative starts-ups with technology that can be used in the most demanding of space systems. Enbio, InnaLabs and PilotPhotonics are the latest Irish companies to have their technical expertise validated by securing contracts from the European Space Agency. This is part of an ongoing rapid expansion of Irish companies engaging with ESA to develop and qualify technologies for the growing space market. A number of these technologies are also successfully being commercialised in a range of non-space applications including healthcare, automotive and aerospace”.
The InnaLabs® RMU will be primarily used for coarse attitude control and will provide gyroscopic measurement to the Attitude and Orbit Control System (AOCS) while in safe mode. Regaining attitude control, if lost, is of the highest priority because it is necessary to maintain thermal balance and proper illumination of the solar panels. The initial phase of the contract is valued at €980,000 which is cofunded by ESA. Delivery of flight models RMU is scheduled for 2020.
“We are very proud to partner with the European Space Agency as a valued supplier of high -quality, Rad-hard, low cost 1◦ /hr gyroscopic sensors for future ESA missions” said Jose Beitia, Chief Technical Officer. “InnaLabs® demonstrated its space heritage with recent successes in delivering specific cost to performance ratio’s for low earth orbit applications with twenty gyros aboard five small-satellites launched in 2016, with further launches scheduled in 2017 which led to our selection on this significant development programme. This contract will enhance the development of the growing space team within InnaLabs® and we look forward to future opportunities in the expanding commercial space sector.”
The RMU is based on InnaLabs® proven and qualified COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) Coriolis Vibratory Gyroscope (CVG) Technology. which offers a genuine non -ITAR and low cost alternative to traditional gyroscope space solutions
Ireland’s industrial and research participation in the programmes of the European Space Agency (ESA) is coordinated by Enterprise Ireland in collaboration with the Irish government Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.
Gearóid Mooney, Research & Innovation Manager, Enterprise Ireland, said; “This high-level trade visit to ESTEC provides an opportunity for Enterprise Ireland to help further build relationship between Irish companies and ESA, with a specific focus on new entrant companies and as a means to progress Irish industrial involvement in upcoming Space mission procurement opportunities. Supporting our client companies to identify new markets for their products and services is part of Enterprise Ireland’s strategy to enable our clients to build scale and expand global reach”.
-ENDS-
Contact Us.
Mr. Peter Nicholson
Head of Marketing
InnaLabs Ltd
Tel: +353 (0)18096200
Email: peter.nicholson@innalabs.co.kr
Web: www.innalabs.co.kr
About InnaLabs®
InnaLabs® is a leading designer and manufacturer of navigation and tactical grade inertial sensors based in Dublin, Ireland. Our mission is to combines rare inertial sensor expertise, with operational excellence and world class customer engineering support to solve complex navigation, stabilisation and guidance system challenges within the space, aerospace, land and marine markets. For more information on InnaLabs® inertial sensors please visit www.InnaLabs®.com
The European Space Agency
The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. ESA is an intergovernmental organisation, created in 1975, with the mission to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. ESA develops the launchers, spacecraft and ground facilities needed to keep Europe at the forefront of global space activities. Today it launches satellites for Earth observation, navigation, telecommunications and astronomy, sends probes to the far reaches of the Solar System and cooperates in the human exploration of space. www.esa.int
Enterprise Ireland, managing Ireland’s membership of the European Space Agency
Enterprise Ireland co-ordinates Ireland’s industrial and research participation in the programmes of the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. The purpose of Ireland’s membership of ESA is to participate in European space programmes with a focus on facilitating innovative Irish operations to develop leading edge space technologies and to commercially exploit their ESA participation in global space and non-space markets, leading to increased export sales and employment. Enterprise Ireland’s role in relation to ESA is to assist Irish operations to successfully bid for ESA contracts, providing expertise for Irish operations and researchers in developing and executing space strategies, as well as being a point of reference for the international space industry when they want to identify relevant sources of space-related expertise within Ireland. Irish industrial and research participation in ESA covers a range of sectors and technology areas including; software, precision mechanical engineering, telecommunications, electronics, optoelectronics and advanced materials and extending to end user equipment, services and applications.
