AZ Space Technologies

Spacecraft Engineering A to Z

AZST provides systems engineering and design services for space vehicle subsystems and space missions. Our employees are experienced in the design, development, and delivery of spacecraft hardware and software. We have expertise in all stages of spacecraft design and development, from proposal to on-orbit commissioning, for a wide range of military and NASA spacecraft. Our team designs avionics such as command and data handling boards and payload interface controllers with embedded processors in FPGAs. We can implement complex algorithms for functions such as image processing, navigation, and control. We also have significant expertise in design and analysis of LEO satellite constellations, including coverage analysis, collision avoidance, deployment, and deorbit strategies. Our focus is to support the mission by providing the engineering necessary to ensure the mission science goals are achieved. AZST can assist at all stages of a mission, from the proposal phase to on-orbit operations.

Engineering Services

Spacecraft Subsystem Design
- Avionics Hardware
- Avionics Software
- Guidance, Navigation, and Control
- Thermal, Structural, and Mechanical
Algorithm Development
Flight Hardware Development
Test Hardware Development
System & Subsystem Trade Studies
Mission Analysis & Design
Architecture Development
Systems Engineering
Consulting & Review Support

Avionics Board

Avionics Hardware

AZST avionics boards feature FPGAs enabling custom logic design for mission applications. Board designs are modular, compact, low power, and contain protection against single event upsets due to radiation. Boards can use embedded processors in the FPGA for real time data processing. We design boards that receive spacecraft commands and send telemetry to the spacecraft radio for transmission to the ground. We also design boards that directly interface with payloads, custom process sensor data, perform data compression, and send the processed data to the spacecraft. Our boards can provide motion and heater control.

Our Boards Contain...

FPGA or CPU Based Designs
Non-Volatile/Volatile Data Storage
Actel & Xilinx Reconfigurable FPGAs
Redundant or Single String Systems
Modular, Compact, Radiation Tolerant
Servo and stepper motion drives
RS-422, RS-485, 1553, LVDS, SPI, I2C, Proprietary Data I/O
CCSDS
SEU-Mitigated Design

Motor Driver Board

Structural and Thermal Design of Spacecraft

Structural and thermal design for space and launch environments, both at spacecraft and electronic board levels
We use state of the art tools to design low mass spacecraft structures for custom applications

Validation of Thermal Models using Thermal Imaging

Cubesat Thermal Desktop Model

Mission and Algorithm Design

AZST can provide design of spacecraft guidance, navigation, and attitude control systems. We can also design and implement complex algorithms in software for applications such as constellation coverage and design, navigation filters, and guidance control laws. AZST can provide design and analysis of LEO satellite constellation architecture including coverage analysis, collision avoidance, deployment, and deorbit strategies.

We Can Aid In...

Guidance, Navigation, and Attitude Control System Design
Mission Analysis Design
Algorithm Development
Integration of auto-coded algorithms into real-time computing environment

Coverage Analysis of LEO constellation