News

A team led by HDES Service & Engineering with Bradford Engineering and TNO as partners has been awarded a second phase in the SBIR Space Technology tender of the Netherlands Space Office. The team has already conducted a succesfull feasibiliy study. See the link below to our projects page. https://hdes.nl/our-projects/minos-cool-gas-generator-pressurisation-system-for-small-satellite-propulsion/ In this second phase,  which will last one year and has a value of 413 thousand Euro,  the team will develop and qualify a CO2 Cool Gas Generators (CGG) to pressurize space propulsion systems of small satellites. With the CGGs, blow-down propulsion systems will be able to carry up to […]

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Soilspect of Noordwijk, the Netherlands is developing a high-precision automatic measurement station to keep track of the settlement of the ground. This system can be adjusted to measure the elevation with daily to weekly intervals transmits the data to an internet dashboard, which can be accessed from everywhere in the world via internet. HDES assisted Soilspect in making the design of the PCB design for their measurement station. HDES did this in a short time of only two months. The project was carried out in the framework of the SBIC Technical Assitance Programme. More information on the activities of soilspect […]

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HDES wins a feasibility study in the SBIR programme of the Netherlands Space Office The Netherlands Space Office (NSO) has selected HDES as one of the ten winning proposals in the SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) tender “space technology”. HDES Service and Engineering, together with Bradford Engineering  of Heerle, the Netherlands, will carry out a feasibility study into an innovative pressurisation system for small satellites. With the Cool Gas Generator based system, the tank kan be filled to a much higher level which can lead to an increase of the propellant load of 25% without major changes to the propulsion […]

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HDES is progressing well with its oxygen generator development and is passing milestone after milestone. In August we saw the first fully successful small scale test of an oxygen Cool Gas Generator. Further work resulted in more testing in September. On 23 September 2022 HDES the test crew fired three oxygen generators in one day. All performed well and the oxygen production was within a few percent of each other. This opens the way for full prototype testing of our oxygen generator and finalisation of the product development.

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All good things come to an end, but this time it is a very happy end. On September 21st HDES Service & Engineering passed the final review of the SBIC programme. HDES has achieved all goals set out two years ago and has grown from 3 to 7 people. Both oxygen and CO2 CGGs have been demonstrated and are now in product development. With this review, the Incubation Phase is closed for HDES and are now an Alumnus of the programme. HDES had decided to stay in the SBIC building and will have its own office and also uses the […]

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On September 6th, Lisa Ginneken and Romke de Jong, both members of the Dutch Parliament for D66 and their staff visited the Noordwijk Space Industry. As part of this tour they visited the SBIC building and HDES Service & Engineering BV was one of the companies selected to present themselves. It was a very lively visit with many questions and good exchanges of views and ideas.  Mrs van Ginneken and Mr. de Jong were very interested in our products and progress.  

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In June 2021, HDES conducted the first simplified demonstration tests for a CO2 Cool Gas Generator, which were successful and showed the feasibility of the concept. The first grains were produced and showed a self-sustained reaction. These test were important to finalise the SBIC programme for which this was the final demonstration, but also for future product development projects that will use the CO2 generator. The first product development for CO2 are now underway and another one is now in preparation. The results of the tests have been thorroughly analysed and will be used for the next test series that […]

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To test Cool Gas Generators, HDES has designed and built its own test equipment, consisting of there parts: a mobile  re-enforced test cell, a data acquisition and control system and the actual test-set-up itself. Previously, equipment used in other projects was used for testing Cool Gas Generators. Based on this experience HDES designed a new more modular test set-up. The test-set-up is a strengthened and modular Cool Gas Generator specifically designed for testing grains, filters and igniters. It is equipped with multiple parts to allow sensors to be attached. Due to its modularity, it can be quickly adapted to different […]

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The COGEX Cool Gas generator Experiment is still ongoing on board of the Proba-2 satellite and performing well more than 11 years after launch but has been assigned a new function. Recently, in view of the increased risk of debris collisions, ESA decided to assign an operational mission task to the experimental propulsion system: Collision Avoidance Maneuvers. In the COGEX, four nitrogen CGGs are present that can refill the tank of the propulsion system when its propellant load is low. The tank feeds a resistojet thruster that can be used to maneuver the satellite. The propulsion system is built by […]

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Since the summer of 2020 HDES has started to work together with Sobolt. This Artificial Intelligence (AI) company from Rotterdam is very ambitous. Working in a fast pace, the first demonstrator set-up was completed within a few months. After thorough testing the system was delivered to the customer. Sobolt and HDES are exploring new co-operation options.

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