OPS-SAT Space Lab is an ESA service to help accelerate innovation in OPS related areas. It uses powerful, reconfigurable space elements that can be used for in-flight experimentation not possible or desirable on other missions. The service provides access to these labs for all European industry and institutions, using a fast, cost free, non-bureaucratic process. Industry can concentrate on generating value while ESA assumes the risk of performing these experiments.

Experiment ideas will be considered by ESA if at least one of the following criteria is met:

• The applicant is affiliated with an industrial company or an academic institution in an ESA Member State country, the EU or Canada
• A consortium applies in which at least one partner (industrial or academic institution) is registered in an ESA Member State country, the EU or Canada
• The applicant represents a national or international space agency

Generally, experiments may deploy software and firmware on the OPS-SAT satellite payload computer. We further offer to collect telemetry datasets for you or to help you collect the data. Also experiments on ground, e.g. using the FlatSat or test hardware is possible. We also encourage your further ideas. Let us know!

The OPS-SAT-1 mission page contains a publications overview with publications detailing experiments conducted on OPS-SAT-1.
The OPS-SAT PRETTY page also has an overview over experiment examples in the documents tab.

Please register an experiment via the webpage.
If unsure about experiment feasibility, contact the OPS-SAT team and request an initial meeting.

Experiments are not selected per se, but will be checked on reasonability and feasability. That said, OPS-SAT PRETTY experiments does give priority to consortiums with an Austrain partner.

An experiment description can be anything from very detailed to very vague.
The important point is to register an experiment to get an experiment ID and access rights to needed information.

There is no maximum number of experiments, however we encourage you only to register the experiments that you are actively developing. For access to the respective mission documentation, the experimenter must be registered for that mission. A registration on another mission is not enough for document access.
We recommend that you split any bigger experiment ideas into different experiments if possible. That way you will get something executing on-board relatively fast and you get to learn quickly from your results.

There are documents prepared for experimenters that are shared with registered experiments only.
If more information is needed the primes may also be asked, but there is no guarantee that they can or will provide the information.

We provide our services on a flexible and best-effort basis. A generic answer on experiment runtime cannot be given without more detailed information. Please get in contact.
A general rule is: The easier and lower footprint your experiment and downlinks is, the easier for us to run it often.
We schedule the precise execution time based on your specific or general inputs. The more general the requirements, the easier and faster the experiment will be scheduled.

This depends on the frequency band and satellite you want to establish a link with. Generally we are happy to support such experiments if possible and if legal limitations allow. Most importantly, we do not take responsibility for user emissions.

The fastest experiment to be registered, run, and completed took place in the span of 72 hours. Most experiments take several weeks to a few months until completion, with multiple tests on ground and multiple runs in space.

Only in special cases can the experimenter get priority for their experiment. All experimenters share the access to the service on equal terms.
Contact the OPS-SAT team if you have a longer campaign in mind, so we may discuss if we can support the activity.

The OPS-SAT Space Lab team facilitates and supports the experiments as much as possible, but unfortunately does not have the capacity to develop something for the experimenter or to give significant development support.
Expect some support, but the experiment must be developed by the experimenter.

• OPS-SAT PRETTY: baseline is C and C++, but we are open to further requests
• OPS-SAT VOLT: baseline is Python and discussion on further support is ongoing
• OPS-SAT ORIOLE: in discussion

OPS-SAT Space Lab is always trying to improve our capabilities for testing and validation of experiments. Test setups for all missions are planned. OPS-SAT PRETTY currently has hardware, hardware emulators and software environments available to be shared with experimenters. In addition, all experiments are tested on an engineering model before execution on the satellite.
Testing opportunities are also planned for OPS-SAT VOLT and ORIOLE. Contact the OPS-SAT team for up to date information.