Onboard autonomy and fault protection concept of the BIRD satellite

BIRD (Bi-Spectral Infra-Red Detection) has been demonstrating new technologies since its launch on 22. October, 2001 with the PSLV-C3 from Shar/India successfully into a sun-synchronous low Earth orbit at 560 km. Besides the successful in-orbit test of the detection and evaluation of vegetation fires with micro satellites, BIRD has also been demonstrating a number of advanced spacecraft bus technologies, especially in the field of satellite autonomy and fault detection and protection. A number of ingenious features make it possible to operate the 92 kg satellite in a comfortable and safely way. Special features include the autonomous management of onboard computer failures, surveillance and response to critical parameters limit exceeding, system attitude anomalies. A robust redundancy philosophy and optimised ground-spacecraft interaction concept has contributed to the success of the BIRD mission, which was designed to operate for one year and has completed now its second year of operation. The paper describes the related new technologies and the results from the experience with BIRD.