Mission Instrumentation
Design and operate the instruments that collect mission data — from simple proof-of-life beacons to advanced sensing and imaging payloads.
Role
Design and operate the instruments that collect mission data. Mission Instrumentation teams decide what to measure and how to measure it within the limits of mass, power, altitude, flight time, and recovery.
Team Brief — How You Work With Other Teams
You define the mission data requirements and build the sensing payload that will collect them. You work with Launch Services to stay within payload limits and reach the right altitude, with Satellite Services to survive and return safely, with Command & Control to keep the mission realistic and safe, and with Mission Communications to explain what the data means and why it matters.
Capabilities Progression
Micro:bit Path
- Level 1: Sputnik Beacon — proof-of-life signal and basic mission readiness
- Level 2: Test Pilot Monitor — flight smoothness and descent performance from motion data
- Level 3: Weather Satellite — environmental profiling with altitude (temperature / light / pressure where available)
- Level 4: Comms Relay Satellite — transmit key events and mission summaries to a ground station
- Level 5: Recovery Performance Instrument — standardised metrics to compare recovery systems
Raspberry Pi Path
- Level 1: Instrumented Payload Bus — autonomous boot and system health logging
- Level 2: High-Rate Flight Data Recorder — detailed motion and dynamics logging
- Level 3: Earth Observation Imager — timed or event-triggered image capture
- Level 4: Correlated Multi-Instrument Mission — synchronised imaging + sensor data
- Level 5: Target Acquisition Satellite — detect a designed ground target and relay results to a hunter team
What Success Looks Like
- The instruments collect the data the mission set out to measure
- Data is reliable, well-structured, and clearly documented
- Limitations and sources of error are understood and explained
- Other teams can confidently use the data to plan, improve, and communicate mission results
