MATS - The Second Innosat Spacecraft to Launch in 2021

In 2014 the Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA) initiated the development of a generic microsat platform by Swedish space industry with the ambition to give science and academic institutes recurring launch opportunities every 3-4 years. The program is called the Innovative Research Satellites Programme and the platform is called Innosat . The program has two overarching goals. The first is to conduct viable, high quality science, and the second is to be able to do this at a relatively low cost to be able to support a recurring programme. The first mission, “Mesospheric Airglow/aerosol Tomography and Spectroscopy” (MATS), has suffered some launch delays due to the delay of the primary spacecraft, but is now set for a launch in November 2021. This paper outlines Sweden\u27s national approach, both to the spacecraft platform and to the selection and support of the payload developments. A description of the microsat platform is given, including lessons learned, from the completely new design and development. This is done using comparisons of gained experience from OHB Sweden and in previous larger ESA programs and smaller national missions. The MATS payload concept, led by the Department of Meteorology of Stockholm University, is designed to investigate atmospheric waves in the transition region between the atmosphere and space (75-110 km). By performing tomographic analysis of 2D images, 3D reconstruction of the waves can be done, allowing MATS to provide the first global map of the properties of atmospheric waves in all spatial dimensions. The Innosat program, and the MATS mission, is profiting from the changing and rapidly developing micro/smallsat hardware market, whilst building on several decade long heritage of smallsat development and flight heritage. Innosat fills a size segment larger than Cubesats and smaller than traditional smallsats, in which advanced missions for a wide range of different applications are becoming feasible thanks to miniaturization of subsystems onboard both the platforms and payloads. A smaller commercial version of the Innosat platform has already been built and launched as of January 20th, 2021. This was done in record time – from project start to launch in only 14 months, payload specification T-8 months, launch signature T-6 months. These missions are now the foundation for the follow-up mission in the Innovative Research Satellites Programme, named SIW as well as the ESA Artic Weather Satellite constellation