Objective: Save the Earth. The story of Terma & Flux

The cooperation between Terma and Flux is something of a fairytale: A Danish collaboration with a global perspective that has been running for more than two decades.

Ad astra

Kim Plauborg, Senior Director for Space Systems at Terma A/S, has been working at Terma for almost 30 years, and he has been on board since the first-ever Danish satellite, the Ørsted Satellite, in 1999. Terma has been working with Space for more than 50 years, as the first equipment manufactured by Terma was sent into space as early as 1972. For the past 20 years, Flux has played a vital part in the space-bound adventures – and the journey has only just begun!

Kim Plauborg (left) and colleague Magnus at the launch of the HERA mission, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, USA

”When I first started working at Terma, I was told to mentally prepare myself for saving the planet,” Plauborg notes with a wry smile. Even though that may sound like a rather lofty ambition, it is essentially right on the money – one only needs a quick glance at the current missions to verify the validity of the statement.

”Some of the missions that we’re involved in fall into main categories: planetary defence – largely concerned with the threats posed by asteroids – and environmental issues,” Plauborg elaborates. In the first category, we find missions like HERA and RAMSES. 

Following up on NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, which intentionally collided with Dimorphos (the moonlet of the asteroid Didymos) in 2022, ESA launched the HERA mission in 2024 as part of a broader planetary defence. The objective of HERA is to monitor the result of the impact caused by the DART mission. The RAMSES (Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety) mission is of the same ilk and is based on the foundation of the HERA mission.

Plauborg continues: ”Our contributions to the missions are the so-called RTUs, or Remote Terminal Units, a crucial device to the main satellite. There is one redundant on-board computer, and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of processes that this computer needs to control. This is where our RTUs come into play, overseeing everything from temperature to fuel levels. The magnetic components delivered by Flux are of paramount importance in this regard.”

Environmental accountability

In the other category, we find the missions CO2M and Harmony. Both are part of Europe’s ambitious Earth Observation program – otherwise known as the Copernicus Program – and are a collaboration between several partners like the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). 

The first two satellites in the CO2M program are scheduled for launch in 2026 – with a possible third in the pipeline – and will provide invaluable knowledge about human emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄) nitrous oxide (N₂O). The main goal of the program is to monitor which nations are on track to comply with the emission targets set by the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

Another mission under the umbrella of ESA’s Earth Observation is the Harmony mission, which comprises two satellites charged with providing valuable data on various processes of the Earth, like shifts in the shape of the land surface caused by earthquakes, volcanic activities, and glacier movements – to name but a few objectives.

Once again, Terma RTU’s play a central role but that is not all, as Kim Plauborg explains: ”In relation to the Harmony mission, not only did we deliver the RTUs but Power Conditioning Distribution Units (PCDU) as well, the very heart of the satellite, providing all the electricity; if it sets out, everything is lost, which of course is completely unacceptable. The magnetic components – including those from Flux – are of vital importance, and that explains the extremely high demands set in terms of quality and reliability. They have to be the crème of the crème,  and the collaboration in achieving exceptionally high quality is the source of enormous pride. In fact, it’s of the utmost importance if Terma wish to operate in this market.”

The Danish connection

In simplistic terms, one can consider Terma’s contribution as the heart and muscles of the satellites, whereas Flux provides the veins and the nervous system; everything is interdependent and interconnected.

”Our strengths lie in design, while Flux excels in production and qualification – it’s a perfect match of complementary skills," Plauborg reveals and continues: ”If you look at production today, very few components are custom-made. The majority are standardised parts that you can buy off the shelves, but a handful of parts remain custom-made, and the magnetic components from Flux rank among these. That’s why it’s crucial for us to know who we’re dealing with and to have suppliers who can deliver the requisite sparring that we need to achieve the best possible solutions.”

Plauborg stresses the importance of the collaboration between the two Danish entities: ”From time to time, we need to push the boundaries in order to accommodate the needs of the customer, and the collaboration with Flux makes it possible. It is especially in the early stages of the projects, when we do prototypes, that we get the competent sparring and flexibility that is so crucial to us. It really adds a lot of value for us. It means a lot that we are close to each other – not only in terms of geography, but in terms of collaboration; that we understand each other and what we want to achieve with the designs.” 

And Lars Gregersen, our COO in Defence and Space, could not agree more: ”Our cooperation with Terma is a perfect example of how we service our customers from biggest to smallest, from ESA and Prime satellite builders to start-ups and universities inventing new technology requiring custom magnetics. Small or big makes no difference; any custom design requires the necessary attention and innovation to succeed. With three decades of flight heritage, we can incorporate experiences from a vast number of designs and tests into even more innovative designs for the ever-evolving needs of Space.“

We are extremely proud of our cooperation with Terma, and we are looking forward to what the future brings in our endeavours to venture into the final frontier. 

* Feature image: Copyright ESA©

Contact Lars A. Gregersen, our COO of Defence and Space, to explore how Flux can help you develop and innovate your next project and contribute to space exploration.