Big doesn’t always translate into better. That applies to home electronics, and it applies to space technology as well. While there has been an increase in the size and complexity of some space based systems, an alternate trend has seen the development of a new class of satellites that are smaller and simpler than their traditional satellite cousins. These small satellites allow smaller players to get involved in space research, opening up the heavens to universities and third world nations alike.
Experts have broken down the small satellite category into further categories; microsatellites are classified as weighing (on Earth, of course) 10 to 100 kg, nanosatellites are between 1 and 10 kg, and picosatellites are between 0.1 and 1 kg.
What all these satellites have in common is that they are small and simple enough to allow universities and other research organizations to conduct space research. Most are limited to one or two small onboard projects, ranging from space technology research to biological experiments. Because of their small size, it is possible to launch several of these satellites at the same time. A recent Indian space launch, for example, sent eight nanosatellites into orbit.
One subclass of picosatellites, called CubeSats, has been particularly popular. CubeSats, are (as the name implies) small cubed picosatellites that take up exactly one litre of volume. Because of their standard size (they are 10 by 10 cm), they can be launched by a common orbital deployer developed by Cal Polytechnical State University. CubeSats, because of their relatively low cost to build and launch (under $100,000), have become a means for universities across the world to get involved in space research. Columbia’s first satellite (Libertad 1), for example, was a CubeSat developed by Sergio Arboleda University. Dozens of universities around the world have launched, or are in the process of launching CubeSats.
The increasing sophistication of small satellites is demonstrated by the development of a pair of picosatellites by University of Texas and Texas A&M University engineering students. BEVO-1 and AggieSat2 are designed to dock with each other in space without human control, something previously done only by large multi-million dollar spacecraft.
What does the future hold for the miniturization of satellite technology? Well, a new satellite class has already been envisioned; the femtosatellite. Weighing under 100 grams, these tiny spacecraft will give new meaning to the term - small satellite.