Flight operations plan

The YPSat-2 mission will begin its journey on board ESA’s Vega-C launcher, marking the start of an ambitious flight campaign for both the satellite and its onboard experiment, AIM. Once in orbit, YPSat-2 will remain securely housed within the payload bay of Space Rider, ESA’s new reusable orbital vehicle. Although the payload bay can control thermal conditions, it does not provide a pressurized environment. Once Space Rider is commissioned, the bay doors will open and a robotic arm will deploy, exposing all payloads, including YPSat-2, to the vacuum of space.

To ensure the protection of its non-space-qualified COTS components, AIM is internally pressurized to approximately 1 bar. This internal atmosphere allows sensitive systems to operate safely in orbit despite the harsh external environment.

During the autonomous mission phase, the AIM experiment will run according to pre-programmed sequences. During science mode, AIM will gradually adjust the flow rates and internal pressures to replicate the physiological shifts experienced by astronauts in microgravity. This continuous operation, lasting up to 14 days, is essential for capturing long-term haemodynamics effects.

Throughout the flight, critical data sets will be downlinked to Earth at regular intervals, allowing for early evaluation of the experiment’s performance and scientific output. Nevertheless, most of the science data will be stored on-board. At the end of the mission, Space Rider will perform a controlled re-entry, returning to Earth with YPSat-2 intact. Once safely recovered, the AIM payload will retrieve the data and undergo detailed post-flight analysis, enabling the team to potentially compare in-flight data with ground-based controls and further investigate the long-term effects of spaceflight on simulated human physiology.

“Space Rider is the enabler. Without it, AIM wouldn’t be possible.” – Payload Integration Team

By launching on board ESA’s Space Rider, the project aims to advance understanding of blood flow in microgravity, supporting astronaut health and bridging biology, fluid dynamics, and space engineering.