Ramses asteroid mission’s onboard computer switched on for the first time

Prime contractor OHB Italia has switched on Ramses’ onboard computer together with its connected subsystems for the first time in Milan. The European Space Agency ESA reported this on 23 September. Ramses is a joint mission by ESA and the Japanese space agency JAXA to the asteroid Apophis. [1]

The components had previously been tested individually. Engineers could now check for the first time how they work together within the spacecraft, chief engineer Ingo Gerth explains. Through the onboard computer, they can send commands to systems including data storage and the power supply.

According to the project team, this first test confirms that the connected systems work together as intended. This does not yet mean that Ramses is fully assembled or ready for flight: the switch-on concerns the module containing the main electronics. ESA provides no quantitative test results. [1]

Development is under time pressure. According to ESA, Ramses must be launched in spring 2028 to rendezvous with Apophis around its flyby of Earth on 13 April 2029. The planned period between contract signing and launch is less than three and a half years.

Next step in Noordwijk

To save time, two parts of Ramses are being built simultaneously. While OHB Italia works on the electronics module, ArianeGroup is building the propulsion module in Lampoldshausen, Germany.

ESA plans to join the two modules in spring 2027 at the ESTEC test centre in Noordwijk. The pre-flight testing phase is then due to begin. The programme includes a thermal vacuum test, during which the complete spacecraft will be operated continuously for two to three weeks, and an accelerated simulation of the entire mission. These tests have yet to take place. [1]