to the surface during landing, our software
detects that with all kinds of sensors and
then avoids them autonomously and finds
the safest place to land,” Dr. de Lafontaine
said.
The company is also involved with the
newest satellites in the PROBA series,
PROBA-3. The preliminary studies and
designs have been completed and NGC
is currently developing the software. The
unique thing about this project is that it
consists of two satellites that will fly in for-
mation, that is the two satellites will coor-
dinate themselves in terms of orientation
and relative position to achieve a mission.
The satellites’ mission will be to observe
the sun; one will hide the sun disk while
the other will examine the external part of
the sun for eruptions.
The importance of this monitoring system
is needless to say; solar eruptions is a pop-
ular theme in doomsday movies and the
havoc they can wreak on Earth is universal
knowledge. Accordingly, once launched,
PROBA-3 will be used to detect eruptions.
A LITTLE CLOSER TO EARTH
Here on Earth, NGC is involved in aerial-ter-
restrial systems and projects have centred
on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and
unmanned ground vehicles. At this time,
along with other industrial and university
partners, the company is developing an
unmanned helicopter, which will be used
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