ESA GNC Conference Papers Repository

ARIETIS and ARIETIS-NS are two gyroscopes for space applications developed by Innalabs based on its proprietary CVG technology. ARIETIS is an ITAR free, Rad-Hard 3-axis gyroscope whose main applications are Earth Observation, Science missions, Telecom, as well as Navigation, Earth Observation, as well as Science missions. It uses class 1 EEE components and meets ESA ECSS standards. ARIETIS-NS is an ITAR free, rad and Single Event Effects (SEEs) tolerant 3-axis gyroscope. It is developed following ECSS standard with the exception of using commercial EEE components that are upscreened by means of radiation testing. ARIETIS-NS is intended for commercial satellites (both LEO and GEO), constellations and mega-constellations, but it has also been selected for science and exploration missions. ARIETIS and ARIETIS-NS are both based on InnaLabs proprietary Coriolis Vibratory Gyroscope (CVG) technology which is currently used in Space on board both LEO and GEO applications. InnaLabs CVG gyros have already cumulated more than 3,000,000 hours in flight with no failures and no deviation from the specified performance, confirming the suitability of the technology to space environment. After a brief description of the InnaLabs CVG basic principles and an overview of the CVG technical strengths in comparison to competing technologies, this paper describes the specification. key design features, and budgets of both ARIETIS and ARIETIS-NS. Both gyros are able to provide high performance (ARW <0.005 deg/?hr) and high reliability (~1000 FITs) in a very compact design (~1.2 kg for ARIETIS-NS and ~3kg for ARIETIS) and very low power consumption (<6W). To achieve this, several targeted enhancements and optimisations to InnaLabs gyroscope's design have been introduced, mainly in the component selection, the control loops, the compensation algorithms, and a smaller Sensing Element design. ARIETIS-NS has recently completed qualification where multiple qualification models were used to characterize different configurations of the product. Qualification test results will be presented to show the gyro compliance to the specification in terms of performance and compatibility to both mechanical and thermal environment. ARIETIS is at the start of the qualification campaign with the qualification model currently under MAIT. Several ARIETIS engineering models have been built and tested and test results are presented in the paper.