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Critical Software has been involved in the development of a satellite that will record sea surface height measurements and provide data for operational oceanography and marine meteorology.
The Coimbra-based company is involved in the development project of the Sentinel-6 Copernicus satellite, which is expected to be launched on Saturday in the city of Vandenberg, California, as part of the European Space Agency’s Copernicus program.
Mauro Gameiro ‘main engineer’ for the space market at the company and one of the engineers responsible for the project for the launch of Copernicus Sentinel-6, told the Lusa agency that the functions of Critical Software were at the ‘software’ level and system.
“At the software level, we were responsible for several components of the ‘software’ that runs on the satellite’s central computer and for defining the requirements, making the ‘design’, developing the code, testing the code, first unit and then integrated and finally, evaluated against the requirements that have been written, ”explained the manager.
At the system level, the company was responsible for “the development and validation of the procedures that control the satellite and are used by the operations team.”
“We were also responsible for validating the detection and isolation chain and fault recovery of this satellite and we did the functional verification of several components, one very important, which is the component that ensures the satellite’s automation during launch,” he said. added.
According to Mauro Gameiro, the Sentinel-6 Copernicus satellite aims to “record long-term measurements of the sea surface height and provide data for operational oceanography and marine meteorology”.
He added that this is a “very important” project and that the mission will guarantee “the next five to ten years” of monitoring the planet.
For Critical Software it is “a pride” to be part of the core of companies that “have the opportunity to work on these missions that are so important and relevant to humanity,” he concluded.
“With sea water levels rising about 3.2 millimeters per year, the goal of this mission is to continue the long-term recording of sea surface height measurements and provide data for the ‘operational oceanography and marine meteorology “, he speculates. the company.
The source says the satellite, which will be launched on Saturday, “is particularly relevant in a scenario where millions of people around the world live in coastal regions, thus making it urgent to foresee the imminence of seeing one’s land submerged by the level of water. of sea “.
Critical Software has also participated in Sentinel 1, 2 and 3 satellites and will participate in future projects, said Mauro Gameiro.
The company is also part of the consortium that will manufacture and develop a spacecraft that will be launched in 2025 to remove debris from a launch and which, in the future, will be a “debris removal service” in orbit.
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