Design Criteria of Remote Sensing Constellations of Small Satellites with Low Power Electric Propulsion and Distributed Payloads

Abstract

The recent explosion in proposed microsatellite missions is based on the possibility to mass-produce cheap platforms capable to deliver acceptable performance over a limited lifetime. The assumption behind such scheme is that individual microsatellites are expected/allowed to fail in reasonable numbers, the resulting degradation of constellation performance being limited due to the large population of active spacecraft. We argue that cheap platforms do not necessarily need to be seen as disposable assets, so that low cost constellations featuring a low number of microsatellites may nevertheless be capable of remarkable performance. The key technology needed to enable such feat is low power electric propulsion, whereby microsatellites are allowed to acquire and maintain precisely tuned orbital locations, compensate atmospheric drag to fly longer, and de-orbit safely at end of life. A number of such microsatellites may be fitted with an instrument each from a suite of different sensors operating in various spectral bands. The constellation would operate as an actively controlled system, with the individual instruments providing well coordinated raw data that may be processed using data fusion techniques to yield the final product. Starting from the proven performance of a currently available low power Hall thruster, we present general design criteria for constellations based on a 50 kg-class microsatellite bus. The potential benefits of such technology are outlined with respect to applications such as precision farming, urban area monitoring, and dual use land surveillance.