2026-08-14 –, Room 4
The Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) is developing Amazonia 1B, an Earth observation satellite with an enhanced-resolution camera for environmental monitoring. Although its bus is nearly identical to Amazonia 1, launched in 2021, the new payload requires a different orbit, demanding the redesign of several mission aspects. The mission design phase was conducted using the Julia ecosystem, with core algorithms encapsulated in the public packages SatelliteToolbox.jl and SatelliteAnalysis.jl. This presentation covers how Julia was leveraged for orbit selection, eclipse duration and beta angle computation, and ground station access and gap estimation. The results were incorporated into the Amazonia-1B Critical Design Review (CDR), which occurred in November 2025, and validated by the review board without issues, demonstrating the maturity and reliability of the Julia ecosystem for operational space mission design.
The Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) is currently developing a new Earth observation satellite named Amazonia 1B. The spacecraft bus is nearly identical to that of the previous mission, Amazonia 1, which was successfully launched in February 2021. However, Amazonia 1B utilizes a distinct payload, a camera with significantly enhanced spatial resolution, aimed at improving environmental monitoring capabilities for Brazil. Consequently, the satellite operates in a different orbit, necessitating the redesign of several critical aspects of the mission.
The mission design phase of Amazonia 1B was carried out with the support of a comprehensive set of packages within the Julia programming ecosystem, enabling the execution of numerous essential engineering tasks. The core algorithms developed and employed throughout this process are encapsulated within the publicly available packages SatelliteToolbox.jl and SatelliteAnalysis.jl, both of which provide a robust framework for satellite mission analysis.
The mission design of a new satellite requires a systematic approach encompassing several interdependent steps. In this presentation, we will delve into the intricacies of orbit design, a foundational aspect of the satellite's overall configuration. The selection of an appropriate orbit constitutes the initial and most fundamental step in the process, as it directly influences the functionality and performance of various satellite subsystems, including power generation, thermal control, and communication links. Within this context, we will demonstrate how the Julia ecosystem was leveraged to facilitate the efficient selection of an optimal orbit, compute the satellite's eclipse duration and beta angle profile, and estimate the access windows and revisit gaps for the designated ground stations.
The results derived from these analyses were subsequently incorporated into the Amazonia 1B Critical Design Review (CDR), which occurred in November 2025. All findings underwent thorough validation by the review board, which did not identify any issues with the methodology or the results. This outcome demonstrates the maturity and reliability of the Julia ecosystem, confirming its suitability for application in the design phase of operational space missions.
Since 2013, Ronan Arraes Jardim Chagas has been with the Space Systems Division of the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE). As his most significant accomplishment, he was the Mission Architect and the responsible technician of the attitude and orbit control subsystem (AOCS) of the Brazilian Satellite Amazonia 1, successfully launched in February 2021.
He has been working with Control Systems and Signal Processing for 17 years. During this time, he was involved in many projects related to those areas. He successfully embedded Kalman filters (Extended and Unscented) in many autonomous systems and developed state-of-art signal processing algorithms to perform estimation in distributed sensor networks.
He conducts several research projects at INPE. Those projects include artificial intelligence and advanced control techniques applied to the AOCS, space mission design optimization, advanced signal processing, and orbit analysis.
He is also a Julia language enthusiast. He has used it daily since 2013 to perform many activities related to his work. As his most significant project with this language, he developed a complete AOCS simulator to test and verify this subsystem. The simulation achieved outstanding performance and accuracy, given the orbital data collected from the satellite Amazonia 1.
He is the creator and maintainer of some important packages of the Julia language ecosystem: ReferenceFrameRotations.jl, SatelliteToolbox.jl, SatelliteAnalysis.jl, PrettyTables.jl, and others.