Durable piezoresistive pressure sensors from Kistler monitor fuel consumption in the Rosetta spacecraft.
Sensor Monitoring Over 6.4 Billion Kilometers
Since the early days of the company, Kistler has been a pioneer. One example of this is the Rosetta space probe's mission to the comet Chury, which started in March 2004 and was successfully completed at the end of September 2016. Thanks to the extremely reliable and hugely robust Kistler pressure sensors, it was possible to precisely determine the fuel status during the 6.4-billion-kilometer journey through space and to provide different doses of fuel as necessary.
Fuel Monitoring: A Critical Success Factor
The greatest challenge of the mission was the enormous distance to be conquered, which made it impossible to refuel the space probe. Therefore, the engineers had to develop a solution which meant the space probe could cover the entire distance with just one tankful. This required a measurement solution which would make it possible to obtain accurate measurement data regarding the fuel level status around the clock over the entire duration of the mission.
Sensors in Continuous Operation
One of the main criteria when it came to selecting the sensors was their proven durability and absolute reliability despite the zero gravity conditions. Kistler was able to provide the ideal solution: Highly reliable and extremely durable Kistler pressure sensors were installed on board the Rosetta space probe. They reliably monitored the fuel around the clock during its journey through space.
Kistler Sets Milestones in Technology
The high-quality Kistler pressure sensors played a key role in the success of the project realized by the European Space Agency (ESA). Over the entire mission, it was possible to make decisions based on this data. The experts were able to concentrate fully on the mission without having to worry about the quality of the data. Thanks to the precise measurement data and the completely fault-free functionality of the sensors, Kistler was able to play a small but important part in the success of the space mission.
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