tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/nanosatellite-11391/articlesNanosatellite – The Conversation2023-07-12T14:37:12Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2061152023-07-12T14:37:12Z2023-07-12T14:37:12ZCôte d’Ivoire is launching its first satellite for Earth observation – and it’s locally made<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533450/original/file-20230622-19-z1rzbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Illustration of a view of Africa from space. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Côte d’Ivoire has <a href="https://www.ecofinagency.com/telecom/0205-44484-cote-d-ivoire-to-launch-its-first-satellite-in-space-by-august-2024">announced plans</a> to launch its first satellite within the next two years. A team of scientists in the fields of astrophysics and geology tell The Conversation Africa about the potential benefits of this development and how the country plans to realise its space industry ambitions.</em> </p>
<h2>What kind of satellite does Côte d'Ivoire plan to launch?</h2>
<p>YAM-SAT-CI 01 will be a nanosatellite for the observation of the Earth. A nanosatellite is a small satellite, weighing from 1kg to 10kg. It will be equipped with a camera which can provide images of the coast, forests, natural parks and urban areas of the country. </p>
<p>The construction of the satellite is 100% Ivorian. It has been entrusted to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/UNIVERSALKONSTRUCTORSASSOCIATED/?locale=ms_MY">Universal Konstructors Associated</a>, a private Ivorian company promoting scientific and technological development in Côte d'Ivoire, in partnership with the <a href="https://inphb.ci/">Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny</a> of Yamoussoukro.</p>
<p>It’s the first step towards more sophisticated satellites and sensors which have many <a href="https://theconversation.com/nanosatellite-launch-is-a-big-step-forward-for-african-space-science-175069">applications</a>. For example they can detect, monitor and map threats to national security, illegal migration, <a href="https://theconversation.com/technique-developed-in-kenya-offers-a-refined-way-to-map-tree-cover-76709">deforestation</a>, illegal gold mining activities, <a href="https://theconversation.com/dust-in-the-atmosphere-is-a-sign-of-trouble-in-south-africas-maize-fields-147939">soil humidity</a> and water reservoirs. They can help minimise the consequences of floods or droughts. </p>
<p>In Côte d’Ivoire, such a satellite could assist the government’s efforts to regulate artisanal mining and combat illegal activities and destruction of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/eyes-in-the-sky-and-on-the-ground-are-helping-forest-conservation-in-cameroon-73695">environment</a>. </p>
<p>These applications rely on sophisticated image processing algorithms, including the use of artificial intelligence.</p>
<h2>What are the other potential benefits and spinoffs?</h2>
<p>Earth observation provides data for agriculture, disaster management and urban planning. The satellite supports various applications, including monitoring vegetation health, mapping water resources, and analysing urban growth patterns.</p>
<p>Aside from the technology’s direct benefits, it serves the scientific and economic development of the nation.</p>
<p>The project of building and launching a satellite is generally accompanied by capacity building in many sectors related to the space industry. It involves engineers and scientists to develop sensors and the ground segment to track and communicate with the satellite. </p>
<p>Other important benefits of such projects include a wider use of space-science technology. A satellite launch may lead to greater use of Earth observations data and products, provided by numerous satellites orbiting around our planet. </p>
<h2>Who will be involved in this project?</h2>
<p>The academic and private sectors all have a role to play in this scientific, technical and political adventure. </p>
<p>The Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouet-Boigny has already planned to set up new curricula in the domain of space and aeronautics. This will directly benefit a new generation of young engineers. And an <a href="https://lastronomieafrique.com/author/davidbaratoux/">Ivoirian Association for Astronomy</a> has been launched. Its outreach activities to promote astronomy and space science to the wider public will increase the scientific literacy of the population. It may inspire the younger generation towards scientific careers. </p>
<p>Lastly, the University Félix Houphouët-Boigny has a laboratory specialising in the observation of the Earth from space: the <a href="https://www.curat-edu.org/">Centre Universitaire de Recherche et d'Application en Télédétection</a>. Its students may also contribute to the design, mission strategy and applications of Côte d’Ivoire’s satellites.</p>
<h2>What are other African countries doing in space technology?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://spaceinafrica.com/reports/">2022 space industry report</a> of the consulting company Space in Africa says the value of the industry in Africa is expected to reach US$22.64 billion in 2026. That’s up from US$19.49 billion in 2021. The report indicates that African nations allocated US$534.9 million to space programmes in 2022 compared to US$523.2 million in 2021. These investments indicate that African countries are preparing for wider use of space technology in handling <a href="https://theconversation.com/starlink-spacexs-new-internet-service-could-be-a-gamechanger-in-africa-200746">challenges</a> affecting the continent.</p>
<p>For instance, on 23 April 2023 <a href="https://ksa.go.ke/taifa-1-satellite/">Kenya launched its first satellite</a>, called Taifa-1, with the help of SpaceX. The satellite is equipped with an optical camera and is expected to provide agricultural and environmental monitoring data for Kenya. </p>
<p>In 2021, Tunisia <a href="https://www.lepoint.fr/afrique/la-tunisie-lance-son-premier-satellite-23-03-2021-2418938_3826.php#11">launched</a> its first 100% Tunisian-made satellite. <a href="https://www.un-spider.org/news-and-events/news/zimbabwe-and-uganda-launched-their-first-satellites-zimsat-1-and">Zimbabwe, Uganda</a>, <a href="https://www.pixalytics.com/egyptsat-a-launched/">Egypt</a> and Angola have also launched satellites in the last 12 months. In April 2023, President Macky Sall announced <a href="https://africanews.space/president-macky-sall-announces-the-launch-of-the-senegalese-space-study-agency/">the launch of the Senegalese Agency of Space Studies</a>. </p>
<p>Egypt, <a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-a-case-for-nigeria-and-south-africa-to-cooperate-on-outer-space-activities-174635">Nigeria</a> and South Africa are the most advanced African countries on space issues. For instance, ZACube, launched in December 2018, is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/cool-cubes-are-changing-the-way-we-play-in-space-41621">nanosatellite</a> developed by the South African National Space Agency and local universities. It focuses on the safety of maritime traffic in South African coastal waters.</p>
<p>Nigeria’s National Space Research and Development Agency was established in 1999. It has launched five satellites since 2003. In December 2022, Nigeria and Rwanda became the first African countries to sign the <a href="https://theconversation.com/outer-space-rwanda-and-nigeria-sign-an-accord-for-more-responsible-exploration-why-this-matters-203202">Artemis Accords</a>, a NASA-led framework outlining best practices for sustainable space exploration. </p>
<p>It’s clear that more and more African countries are investing in space technologies. </p>
<p>The first step is to educate the population about space and the benefits of investing in space technologies. We need to create space-related training courses and promote space science in African countries.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206115/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Baratoux receives funding from French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development and from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aziz Diaby Kassamba is affiliated with Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny and Association Ivoirienne d'Astronomie. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marc Harris Yao Fortune, Marie Korsaga, and Pancrace Aka do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Côte d’Ivoire’s nanosatellite is the first step towards applications that monitor environmental harm and illegal activities and assist in planning for development.David Baratoux, Geologist, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD)Aziz Diaby Kassamba, Enseignant chercheur en physique de l'espace, Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny. Cocody, Côte-d'IvoireMarc Harris Yao Fortune, Enseignant-chercheur, astrophysicien , Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny. Cocody, Côte-d'IvoireMarie Korsaga, Enseignant-Chercheur en physique chimie, Université Joseph Ki-ZerboPancrace Aka, Épistémologue, Historien des sciences et Logicien, Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny. Cocody, Côte-d'IvoireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1917762022-10-05T09:19:54Z2022-10-05T09:19:54ZAfrica in space: five interesting reads on the continent’s achievements and future<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487778/original/file-20221003-26-2r5ncs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gettyimages</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/ussr-launches-sputnik">Sputnik 1</a> was launched by the former Soviet Union on October 4, 1957, marking the start of the space age. Since then space activity has delivered <a href="https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/about/everyday-benefits-of-space-exploration/">many benefits</a>. For instance, satellite imagery <a href="https://theconversation.com/ghana-is-looking-to-outer-space-it-needs-the-law-to-match-100200">can be used in</a> agriculture to predict food shortages and surplus harvests. It can also be used to forecast and monitor natural disasters like flooding.</p>
<p>In recognition of this, by the second decade of the 21st century, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/space-exploration/Major-milestones">more than 50</a> countries had space agencies, or other government bodies, carrying out space activities. </p>
<p>Some African countries are also making their mark. The continent’s evolving space sector is reportedly <a href="https://spacegeneration.org/regions/africa">worth USD$400 billion</a> today.</p>
<p>Various experts from across the continent have published articles on The Conversation Africa, revealing the hopes, needs and achievements of Africa’s space ambitions. Here are five insightful reads. </p>
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<h2>Outer space programme is key to meeting Africa’s needs</h2>
<p>Recognising the importance of outer space, <a href="https://au.int/en/agenda2063/overview">Agenda 2063</a> – part of Africa’s development blueprint, put together by the African Union – includes an Africa outer space programme. It focuses on Earth observation, meteorology, satellite communication, satellite navigation and astronomy. Etim Offiong, an expert from the Scientific Officer at the African Regional Centre for Space Science, <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa-has-ambitious-goals-for-2063-plans-for-outer-space-hold-the-key-to-success-180636">argues that Africa’s outer space programme is integral</a> to meeting many needs that African countries have. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/africa-has-ambitious-goals-for-2063-plans-for-outer-space-hold-the-key-to-success-180636">Africa has ambitious goals for 2063: plans for outer space hold the key to success</a>
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<h2>Achievements of the Cape’s astronomers</h2>
<p>In some African countries, astronomical research is quite developed. South African astronomy, for instance, is at the forefront of many initiatives and discoveries. The South African Astronomical Observatory in Cape Town is the oldest permanent observatory in the southern hemisphere: it turned 200 in 2020.</p>
<p>Astronomer Ian Glass <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-african-astronomy-has-a-long-rich-history-of-discovery-and-a-promising-future-152777">reveals</a> just how much Cape astronomers have achieved. They were responsible for, among other things, the first measurement of the distance to a star; the first photographic sky survey and the accurate measurement of the distance to the sun. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-african-astronomy-has-a-long-rich-history-of-discovery-and-a-promising-future-152777">South African astronomy has a long, rich history of discovery – and a promising future</a>
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<h2>Africa’s nanosatellites</h2>
<p>One landmark moment for African space science happened on 13 January 2022 when The Cape Peninsula University of Technology, based in Cape Town, launched its third satellite mission into space. The nanosatellite constellation, consisting of three satellites - called MDASat (Marine Domain Awareness) – was launched from the Cape Canaveral rocket launch site in Florida in the US. </p>
<p>Space engineer, Nyameko Royi, who works on the project, <a href="https://theconversation.com/nanosatellite-launch-is-a-big-step-forward-for-african-space-science-175069">reveals</a> that these small satellites collect data that will enhance the security and protection of South African marine resources. They do this by monitoring and identifying foreign vessels within the country’s exclusive economic zone. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nanosatellite-launch-is-a-big-step-forward-for-african-space-science-175069">Nanosatellite launch is a big step forward for African space science</a>
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<h2>Strides made by Senegal</h2>
<p>Senegal has also made great strides in astronomy and planetary sciences in recent years. Dozens of scientists from NASA and France, along with five tons of astronomical equipment descended on Dakar, Senegal in August 2018. They joined 21 Senegalese scientists in an important mission: collecting precious data in preparation for the flyby of an asteroid called Ultima Thule on January 2019. The project marked the first time Senegal was involved in a space mission to explore our solar system.</p>
<p>Geologist, David Baratoux, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-nasa-chose-senegal-to-find-out-more-about-an-asteroid-in-outerspace-102201">explains why Senegal was chosen</a> to be involved in a space mission to explore our solar system. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-nasa-chose-senegal-to-find-out-more-about-an-asteroid-in-outerspace-102201">Why NASA chose Senegal to find out more about an asteroid in outerspace</a>
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<h2>The moves Ghana is making</h2>
<p>Ghana is another country that’s making moves in the space sector. The government has made a bid to host the African Union’s planned Space Agency and The Ghana Space Science & Technology Institute has been established to train specialists and to convert space research into commercial applications. It’s also a participant in the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope project.</p>
<p>But, <a href="https://theconversation.com/ghana-is-looking-to-outer-space-it-needs-the-law-to-match-100200">argues legal expert Julia Selman Ayetey</a>, to harness the full benefits of space technology Ghana needs space legislation and regulations. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ghana-is-looking-to-outer-space-it-needs-the-law-to-match-100200">Ghana is looking to outer space. It needs the law to match</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191776/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
In some African countries, astronomical research is quite developed.Natasha Joseph, Commissioning EditorMoina Spooner, Assistant EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1796672022-03-24T19:04:14Z2022-03-24T19:04:14ZTiny satellites are changing the way we explore our planet and beyond<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454025/original/file-20220324-27-kowwka.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2044%2C1361&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://secure.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/12801808743/in/set-72157629601396498">NASA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Want to go to space? It could cost you. </p>
<p>This month, the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft will make the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/01/26/private-space-flight-axiom/">first fully-private, crewed flight</a> to the International Space Station. The going price for a seat is US$55 million. The ticket comes with an eight-day stay on the space station, including room and board – and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2021/06/photos-beauty-earth-orbit/619218/">unrivalled views</a>. </p>
<p>Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin offer cheaper alternatives, which will fly you <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/where-is-the-edge-of-space-and-what-is-the-karman-line">to the edge of space</a> for a mere <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2021/10/13/how-much-will-a-ticket-to-space-cost/">US$250,000-500,000</a>. But the flights only last between <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Origin_NS-16">ten</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Galactic_Unity_22">15 minutes</a>, barely enough time to enjoy an in-flight snack.</p>
<p>But if you’re happy to keep your feet on the ground, things start to look more affordable. Over the past 20 years, advances in tiny satellite technology have brought Earth orbit within reach for small countries, private companies, university researchers, and even do-it-yourself hobbyists.</p>
<h2>Science in space</h2>
<p>We are scientists who study our planet and the universe beyond. Our research stretches to space in search of answers to fundamental questions about how our ocean is changing in a warming world, or to study the supermassive black holes beating in the hearts of distant galaxies.</p>
<p>The cost of all that research can be, well, astronomical. The <a href="https://jwst.nasa.gov">James Webb Space Telescope</a>, which launched in December 2021 and will search for the earliest stars and galaxies in the universe, had a final price tag of US$10 billion after <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/25/science/webb-telescope-cost.html">many delays and cost overruns</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-james-webb-space-telescope-has-taken-its-first-aligned-image-of-a-star-heres-how-it-was-done-178315">The James Webb Space Telescope has taken its first aligned image of a star. Here's how it was done</a>
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<p>The price tag for the International Space Station, which has hosted almost <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03085-8">3,000 scientific experiments</a> over 20 years, ran to US$150 billion, with another US$4 billion each year to keep the lights on. </p>
<p>Even weather satellites, which form the backbone of our space-based observing infrastructure and provide essential measurements for weather forecasting and natural disaster monitoring, cost up to US$400 million each <a href="https://globalcomsatphone.com/costs/">to build and launch</a>.</p>
<p>Budgets like these are only available to governments and national space agencies – or a very select club of <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/07/space-billionaires-jeff-bezos-richard-branson/619383/">space-loving billionaires</a>.</p>
<h2>Space for everyone</h2>
<p>More affordable options are now democratising access to space. So-called <a href="https://www.nanosats.eu/cubesat">nanosatellites</a>, with a payload of less than 10kg including fuel, can be launched individually or in “swarms”. </p>
<p>Since 1998, more than <a href="https://www.nanosats.eu">3,400 nanosatellite missions</a> have been launched and are beaming back data used for disaster response, maritime traffic, crop monitoring, educational applications and more. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-many-satellites-are-orbiting-earth-166715">How many satellites are orbiting Earth?</a>
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<p>A key innovation in the small satellite revolution is the standardisation of their shape and size, so they can be launched in large numbers on a single rocket. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cubesat.org">CubeSats</a> are a widely used format, 10cm along each side, which can be built with commercial off-the-shelf electronic components. They were developed in 1999 by two professors in California, Jordi Puig-Suari and Bob Twiggs, who wanted graduate students to get experience designing, building and operating their own spacecraft. </p>
<p>Twiggs says the shape and size were <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48533945">inspired</a> by Beanie Babies, a kind of collectable stuffed toy that came in a 10cm cubic display case. </p>
<p>Commercial launch providers like <a href="https://www.spacex.com">SpaceX</a> in California and <a href="https://www.rocketlabusa.com">Rocket Lab</a> in New Zealand offer “rideshare” missions to <a href="https://www.space.com/rocket-lab.html">split the cost of launch</a> across dozens of small satellites. You can now build, test, launch and receive data from your own CubeSat for <a href="https://www.sps-aviation.com/story/?id=2060">less than US$200,000</a>. </p>
<h2>The universe in the palm of your hand</h2>
<p>Small satellites have opened exciting new ways to explore our planet and beyond. </p>
<p>One project we are involved in uses CubeSats and machine learning techniques to <a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au/news/2021/10/unsw-led-team-awarded-a-uk-australia-spacebridge-grant-to-study-">monitor Antarctic sea ice from space</a>. Sea ice is a crucial component of the climate system and improved measurements will help us better understand the impact of climate change in Antarctica. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454056/original/file-20220324-15-1qkdh82.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454056/original/file-20220324-15-1qkdh82.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454056/original/file-20220324-15-1qkdh82.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454056/original/file-20220324-15-1qkdh82.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454056/original/file-20220324-15-1qkdh82.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454056/original/file-20220324-15-1qkdh82.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454056/original/file-20220324-15-1qkdh82.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Spire Global operates a fleet of more than 110 nanosatellites.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Spire Global</span></span>
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<p>Sponsored by the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AHQraRi1LM">UK-Australia Space Bridge program</a>, the project is a collaboration between universities and Antarctic research institutes in both countries and a UK-based satellite company called <a href="https://spire.com">Spire Global</a>. Naturally, we called the project IceCube. </p>
<p>Small satellites are starting to explore beyond our planet, too. In 2018, <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mars-cube-one-marco">two nanosatellites</a> accompanied the NASA Insight mission to Mars to provide real-time communication with the lander during its decent. In May 2022, Rocket Lab will launch <a href="https://www.rocketlabusa.com/missions/lunar/">the first CubeSat to the Moon</a> as a precursor to NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to land the first woman and first person of colour on the Moon by 2024. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454030/original/file-20220324-15-1ugzx8x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454030/original/file-20220324-15-1ugzx8x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454030/original/file-20220324-15-1ugzx8x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454030/original/file-20220324-15-1ugzx8x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454030/original/file-20220324-15-1ugzx8x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454030/original/file-20220324-15-1ugzx8x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454030/original/file-20220324-15-1ugzx8x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A nanosatellite took this photo of Mars.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia22833-farewell-to-mars">NASA/JPL</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Tiny spacecraft have even been proposed for a voyage to another star. The <a href="https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/initiative/3">Breakthough Starshot</a> project wants to launch a fleet of 1,000 spacecraft each centimetres in size to the Alpha Centauri star system, 4.37 light-years away. Propelled by ground-based lasers, the spacecraft would “sail” across interstellar space for 20 or 30 years and beam back images of the Earth-like exoplanet <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1706680114">Proxima Centauri b</a>. </p>
<h2>Small but mighty</h2>
<p>With advances in miniaturisation, satellites are getting ever smaller. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454031/original/file-20220324-25-5gslfp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454031/original/file-20220324-25-5gslfp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454031/original/file-20220324-25-5gslfp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454031/original/file-20220324-25-5gslfp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454031/original/file-20220324-25-5gslfp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454031/original/file-20220324-25-5gslfp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=767&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454031/original/file-20220324-25-5gslfp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=767&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454031/original/file-20220324-25-5gslfp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=767&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">For a few hundred dollars you can build and launch a tiny working satellite.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://ambasat.com/ambasat-2/ambasat-1/">Ambasat</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“Picosatellites”, the size of a can of soft drink, and “femtosatellites”, no bigger than a computer chip, are putting space within reach of keen amateurs. Some can be assembled and launched for <a href="https://ambasat.com">as little as a few hundred dollars</a>. </p>
<p>A Finnish company is experimenting with a more sustainably built CubeSat <a href="https://www.wisaplywood.com/wisawoodsat/">made of wood</a>. And new, smart satellites, carrying computer chips capable of artificial intelligence, can decide what information to beam back to Earth instead of sending everything, which dramatically reduces the cost of phoning home.</p>
<p>Getting to space doesn’t have to cost the Earth after all. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Shane Keating and Clare Kenyon will be discussing CubeSats and the Space Bridge program at <a href="https://museumsvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/whats-on/design-beyond-earth-the-future-of-earth-observation/">Design beyond Earth: The future of Earth observation</a>, an in-person and online event at Scienceworks in Melbourne on Sunday March 27, 12pm-1pm.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179667/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Shane Keating and the IceCube project are funded by the UK-Australian Space Bridge program, which is managed and led by SmartSatCRC in collaboration with the other funding partners and supported by Austrade, the Australian Space Agency, the UK Government and UK Space Agency. The IceCube project has also received in-kind support from Spire Global (UK). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clare Kenyon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Shrinking satellites are making it cheaper and more accessible to do science in space.Shane Keating, Senior Lecturer in Mathematics and Oceanography, UNSW SydneyClare Kenyon, Astrophysicist and Science Communicator, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1750692022-01-23T08:56:46Z2022-01-23T08:56:46ZNanosatellite launch is a big step forward for African space science<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441242/original/file-20220118-15-wkuc3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's important to have satellites collecting data about Africa, for Africa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Immersion Imagery/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South African space science had a big day on 13 January 2022. The Cape Peninsula University of Technology, based in Cape Town, <a href="https://www.cput.ac.za/newsroom/news/article/4397/cput-mdasat-1-launch-spacex-mission-plan">launched</a> its third satellite mission into space from the Cape Canaveral rocket launch site in Florida in the US.</p>
<p>The nanosatellite constellation – consisting of three satellites – is called MDASat (Marine Domain Awareness). A nanosatellite is smaller than standard satellites, weighing between 1kg and 10kg; it’s an affordable, functional option. The mean mass of each of our satellites is 2.1kg.</p>
<p>MDASat is designed to collect data that will enhance the security and protection of South African marine resources. The constellation will detect, monitor and identify foreign vessels within the country’s <a href="https://marineregions.org/gazetteer.php?p=details&id=8396">exclusive economic zone</a>. This could help track illegal dumping and fishing.</p>
<p>Our hope, as the team that developed and designed the constellation – I am the acting chief engineer on the project – is that MDASat will enhance the country’s ocean sovereignty and protect our marine resources.</p>
<p>This mission follows on from the successful development, launch and operation of two other nanosatellites: ZACUBE-1, known as <a href="https://www.sansa.org.za/2013/11/21/successful-launch-of-tshepiso-sat/">TshepisoSat</a>, and <a href="https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/v-w-x-y-z/zacube-2">ZACUBE-2’s</a>.</p>
<p>It’s an exciting moment not just for the institution and for South Africa, but for the African continent more broadly: this is the first constellation of satellites developed and designed in Africa. Other African countries, among them Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and Ghana, <a href="https://qz.com/africa/2051243/africa-joins-global-space-race-to-boost-connectivity-and-security/">have sent satellites into space</a>. But these were not developed and designed on the continent; they involved partnerships with non-African nations or companies.</p>
<p>This is important because the more countries and scientists are involved in space the better: this provides better collaborations and presents new technical techniques to process information. Different data can be used for all sorts of purposes, like tracking space weather and monitoring natural and marine resources. </p>
<h2>MDASat’s role</h2>
<p>The January 13 launch sent three satellites of the MDA constellation (we hope to launch nine in total as part of this constellation) into space. MDASat-1 will use Automatic Identification System data to monitor ships’ movements within South Africa’s exclusive economic zone. Automatic Identification System is a radio system used for the tracking of maritime traffic. The location messages received by the satellites from ships in the ocean beneath is downloaded daily from the satellite when it passes over the ground station at the university’s Bellville, Cape Town campus.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A device that looks like a computer tower with helicopter rotor blades attached to the top" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441037/original/file-20220117-19-dwci8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441037/original/file-20220117-19-dwci8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441037/original/file-20220117-19-dwci8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441037/original/file-20220117-19-dwci8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441037/original/file-20220117-19-dwci8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441037/original/file-20220117-19-dwci8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441037/original/file-20220117-19-dwci8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the nanosatellites that forms part of the MDASat constellation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cape Peninsula University of Technology</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The satellites can do a number of things. For instance, they can receive over the air upgrades, meaning software can be developed and uploaded to the orbiting satellite when ready. They can also collect raw data, enhancing the opportunity for diagnostic testing on signal interference and decoding messages. This information allows us to track the satellites’ health status – if they experience software bugs or electronic malfunctions we can study that information, then apply fixes or backup manoeuvres. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cool-cubes-are-changing-the-way-we-play-in-space-41621">Cool cubes are changing the way we play in space</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>MDASat also has an enhanced data interface. This means it uses the entire available bandwidth so it’s operating optimally and can put through maximum data.</p>
<p>These enhancements pave the way for the future MDASat-2’s development and launch. They also minimise the risk of damage to the current payload from space weather conditions.</p>
<p>Each satellite will initially pass the ground station an average of four times a day, but that will steadily increase. The satellites will drift apart over time and, as they eventually spread further apart, we will have an average of 12 passes per day. We expect an average of 1883k bytes of data to be generated per pass per satellite.</p>
<p>At the same time we are also still tracking the previously launched ZACUBE-2. It is also tracking ships, as well as forest and vegetation fires. Since its launch in 2018, ZACube-2 has provided cutting-edge very high frequency data exchange communication systems to the country’s maritime industry, as a contribution to <a href="https://www.operationphakisa.gov.za/Pages/Home.aspx">Operation Phakisa</a>. This government initiative aims to fast track several priority projects. </p>
<h2>Another African connection</h2>
<p>Space engineering projects started at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in 2008. Today these are coordinated by the institution’s <a href="https://blogs.cput.ac.za/fsati/">African Space Innovation Centre</a>.</p>
<p>We work from laboratories near the institution’s Bellville campus. Our satellites are built to last and to stay the course: they undergo a rigorous flight acceptance review that confirms not only that they’re fit to go into space but that they’ll work once they get there. The review includes environmental testing to ensure mechanical shocks don’t obliterate satellite and thermal testing to ensure they can operate within designated temperature ranges.</p>
<p>There was another South African element to the 13 January launch: MDASat was launched by <a href="https://www.spacex.com/">SpaceX</a>, the company founded by SA-born entrepreneur Elon Musk. SpaceX provides affordable ride share options into space and MDASat was just one project launched aboard the aerospace company’s Falcon 9 rocket on this occasion. The rocket carried a total of 105 spacecraft which will all gather data for different entities.</p>
<p>This project represents a big step towards autonomy of South Africa’s precious natural resources: data from and about the country, for its own use.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175069/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The MDASat constellation project received funding from the Department of Science and Innovation.</span></em></p>The nanosatellite constellation will detect, monitor and identify foreign vessels within the country’s maritime borders.Nyameko Royi, Acting Chief Engineer, MDASat constellation project, Cape Peninsula University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1263442019-12-05T18:33:25Z2019-12-05T18:33:25ZWe’re using lasers and toaster-sized satellites to beam information faster through space<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305310/original/file-20191205-16520-78opnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=63%2C0%2C4185%2C2828&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The electromagnetic spectrum we can access with current technologies is completely occupied. This means experts have to think of creative ways to meet our rocketing demands for data.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/14812017458/">NASA Johnson/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Satellites are becoming increasingly important in our lives, as they help us meet a demand for more data, exchanged at higher speeds. This is why we are exploring new ways of improving satellite communication.</p>
<p>Satellite technology is used to navigate, forecast the weather, monitor Earth from space, receive TV signals from space, and connect to remote places through tools such as satellite phones and <a href="https://www.nbnco.com.au/learn/network-technology/sky-muster-explained">NBN’s Sky Muster satellites</a>. </p>
<p>All these communications use radio waves. These are electromagnetic waves that propagate through space and, to a certain degree, through obstacles such as walls.</p>
<p>Each communication system uses a frequency band allocated for it, and each band makes up part of the <a href="https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/toolbox/emspectrum1.html">electromagnetic spectrum</a> – which is the name given to the range of all types of electromagnetic radiation.</p>
<p>But the electromagnetic spectrum we are able to use with current technology is a finite resource, and is now completely occupied. This means old services have to make room for new ones, or higher frequency bands have to be used. </p>
<p>While this poses technological challenges, one promising way forward is optical communication. </p>
<h2>Communication with lasers</h2>
<p>Instead of using radio waves to carry the information, we can use light from lasers as the carrier. While technically still part of the electromagnetic spectrum, optical frequencies are significantly higher, which means we can use them to transfer data at higher speeds.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/twisted-light-could-dramatically-boost-internet-speeds-57340">Twisted light could dramatically boost internet speeds</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>However, one disadvantage is that a laser cannot propagate through walls, and can even be blocked by clouds. While this is problematic on Earth, and for communication between satellites and Earth, it’s no problem for communication between satellites.</p>
<p>On Earth, optical communication via fibre optic cables connects continents and provides enormous data exchanges. This is the technology that allows <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/4/30/11562024/too-embarrassed-to-ask-what-is-the-cloud-and-how-does-it-work">the cloud</a> to exist, and online services to be provided. </p>
<p>Optical communication between satellites doesn’t use fibre optic cables, but involves light propagating through space. This is called “free space optical communication”, and can be used to not only deliver data from satellites to the ground, but also to connect satellites in space. </p>
<p>In other words, free space optical communication will provide the same massive connectivity in space we already have on Earth. </p>
<p>Some systems such as the <a href="https://artes.esa.int/edrs-global">European Data Relay System</a> are already operational, and others like SpaceX’s <a href="https://www.space.com/see-spacex-starlink-satellites-in-night-sky.html">Starlink</a> continue to be developed.</p>
<p>But there are still many challenges to overcome, and we’re limited by current technology. My colleagues and I are working on making optical, as well as radio-frequency, data links even faster and more secure.</p>
<h2>CubeSats</h2>
<p>So far, a lot of effort has gone into the research and development of radio-frequency technology. This is how we know data rates are at their highest physical limit and can’t be further increased. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305308/original/file-20191205-16538-drnyo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305308/original/file-20191205-16538-drnyo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305308/original/file-20191205-16538-drnyo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305308/original/file-20191205-16538-drnyo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305308/original/file-20191205-16538-drnyo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305308/original/file-20191205-16538-drnyo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305308/original/file-20191205-16538-drnyo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305308/original/file-20191205-16538-drnyo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The first CubeSats were launched in 2003 on a Russian Rockot launch vehicle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/alloyjared/13278111165/">Jared/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While a single radio-frequency link can provide data rates of 10Gbps with large antennas, an optical link can achieve rates 10 to 100 times higher, using antennas that are 10 to 100 times smaller.</p>
<p>These small antennas are in fact optical lenses, and their compact size allows them to be integrated into small satellites called CubeSats. </p>
<p>CubeSats are not larger than a shoebox or toaster, but can employ high speed data links to other satellites or the ground.</p>
<p>They are currently used for a wide range of tasks including earth observation, communications and scientific experiments in space. And while they’re not able to provide all services from space, they play an important role in current and future satellite systems.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-problems-with-small-satellites-and-what-australias-space-agency-can-do-to-help-108156">The problems with small satellites – and what Australia's Space Agency can do to help</a>
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<hr>
<p>Another advantage of optical communication is increased security. The light from a laser forms a narrow beam, which has to be pointed from a sender to a receiver. Since this beam is very narrow, the communication doesn’t interfere with other receivers and it’s very hard, if not impossible, to eavesdrop on the communication. This makes optical systems more secure than radio electromagnetic systems. </p>
<p>Optical communication can also be used for <a href="https://qt.eu/understand/underlying-principles/quantum-key-distribution-qkd/">Quantum Key Distribution</a>. This technology allows the absolute secure exchange of encryption keys for safe communications.</p>
<h2>What can we expect from this?</h2>
<p>While it’s exciting to develop systems for space, and to launch satellites, the real benefit of satellite systems is felt on Earth. </p>
<p>High speed communication provided by optical data links will improve connectivity for all of us. Notably, remote areas which currently have relatively slow connections will experience better access to remote health and remote learning. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-new-technologies-are-shaking-up-health-care-42318">How new technologies are shaking up health care</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Better data links will also let us deliver images and videos from space with less delay and higher resolution. This will improve the way we manage our resources, including <a href="https://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/community-safety/flood/wofs">water</a>, agriculture and forestry. </p>
<p>They will also <a href="https://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/earth-obs/case-studies/mapping-bushfires">provide vital real-time information in disaster scenarios such as bushfires</a>. The potential applications of optical communication technology are vast.</p>
<h2>Banding knowledge together</h2>
<p>Working in optical satellite communication is challenging, as it combines many different fields and research areas including telecommunication, photonics and manufacturing. </p>
<p>Currently, our technology is far from achieving what is theoretically possible, and there’s great room for improvement. This is why there’s a strong focus on collaboration. </p>
<p>In Australia, there are two major programs facilitating this - the Australian Space Agency run by the federal government, and the <a href="https://smartsatcrc.com/">SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre</a> (CRC), also supported by the federal government.</p>
<p>Through the SmartSat CRC program, my colleagues and I will spend the next seven years tackling a range of applied research problems in this area.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126344/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gottfried Lechner works for the University of South Australia and the SmartSat CRC. He receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Defence and the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. </span></em></p>Free space optical communication will allow the same connectivity in space we already have on Earth. And this will provide benefits across a number of sectors.Gottfried Lechner, Associate Professor and Director of the Institute for Telecommunications Research, University of South Australia, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1145322019-06-26T15:17:50Z2019-06-26T15:17:50ZFrom miniature satellites to giant sun shields – the extreme technology transforming space engineering<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267071/original/file-20190402-177190-1dz15gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Artist's impression of the NanoSail D satellite in orbit with solar sail.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first <a href="https://theconversation.com/apollo-11-brought-a-message-of-peace-to-the-moon-but-neil-and-buzz-almost-forgot-to-leave-it-behind-112851">Apollo moon landing</a>. This was possible thanks to an extraordinary acceleration of space technology. Within a remarkably short period of time leading up to the event, engineers had mastered rocket propulsion, on-board computing and space operations, partially thanks to an essentially unlimited budget.</p>
<p>Since the days of these heroic endeavours, space engineering has matured into a series of interconnected technologies that deliver exciting new space science missions, a fire hose of Earth observation data and a network of global communication and navigation services. We can now <a href="https://theconversation.com/scientists-at-work-from-rosetta-mission-control-as-philae-lands-34152">land probes on comets</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/telescopes-on-the-ground-may-be-cheaper-but-hubble-shows-why-they-are-not-enough-40724">glimpse further back in time</a> than ever before. But what of the future – what new technologies could help transform the space sector in the next few decades and how? </p>
<p>One promising avenue in the last few years has been to scale up and down space technology. Through a recently launched ten-year programme of research supported by the <a href="https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/space/projects/emergingspacetechnologiesmicrotomacro/">Royal Academy of Engineering</a>, our group is beginning to explore further possibilities at the extreme ends of spacecraft length scales. We believe this is an under-explored region for mission design that could generate new ideas for the future. </p>
<h2>Miniaturisation</h2>
<p>Miniaturisation of technology has enabled a range of spacecraft sizes, such as the 100kg small satellites used for the <a href="https://www.sstl.co.uk/media-hub/featured/the-disaster-monitoring-constellation">Disaster Monitoring Constellation</a>, which consists of a coordinated group of individual satellites. There are even compact 30x10x10cm <a href="https://www.space.com/34324-cubesats.html">CubeSats</a>, satellites weighing a few kilograms, which can carry a range of different payloads. These are often used for Earth observation or to conduct low cost science experiments, since a large number of them can be launched as secondary payloads along with larger satellites.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281351/original/file-20190626-76722-147xy9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281351/original/file-20190626-76722-147xy9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281351/original/file-20190626-76722-147xy9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281351/original/file-20190626-76722-147xy9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281351/original/file-20190626-76722-147xy9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281351/original/file-20190626-76722-147xy9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281351/original/file-20190626-76722-147xy9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">CubeSat in hand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">wikipedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We are aiming to step down in space technology by at least an order of magnitude in scale. This would start with a 3x3cm printed circuit board (PCB) satellite, and then to even more compact devices. In-orbit demonstrations of such satellites have already been undertaken. Take for instance <a href="https://research.cornell.edu/news-features/voyages-sprites-space-lego-creativity">the Sprite device</a> weighing just four grams despite boasting sensors, communications, and on-board data processing. </p>
<p>These devices have already been mounted on the exterior of the International Space Station. And just recently the <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/2019/06/03/chip-size-satellites-orbit-earth/">KickSat-2 mission</a> deployed 105 Sprite devices, costing under US$100 each, in orbit about the Earth. Signals were received from the devices the day after deployment – raising hopes that such devices could one day carry out new tasks in space.</p>
<p>Our goal is to build free-flying devices which can control their orientation and orbit in space. This will allow us to deploy large swarms of sensors which could be used for distributed sensing networks – enabling real-time, large-scale data gathering including space weather monitoring. Looking to the future, even smaller devices could lead to highly integrated, mass produced satellites on a single silicon wafer. </p>
<p>One exciting possibility is to turn such tiny spacecraft into starships by coupling them with large light sails – <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-sailing-to-the-stars-has-suddenly-become-a-realistic-goal-57762">reaching other solar systems</a> in a few decades to study them up close. They could also be used to provide pervasive sensing in the vicinity of comets or asteroids. </p>
<h2>Massive structure</h2>
<p>On the other end of the size spectrum, there is also progress. Large 30-metre deployable booms are already in use on the International Space Station to support its solar arrays. Here, our goal is to step up at least an order of magnitude again through making large, lightweight structures in orbit. This could be done by adapting 3D printing technology to work in vacuum and micro-gravity. We believe this approach could enable the fabrication of ultra-large antennae, power collectors or solar reflectors.</p>
<p>But why do we need such structures? Take the case of the James Webb Space Telescope, which will <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-hubbles-successor-will-give-us-a-glimpse-into-the-very-first-galaxies-45970">soon replace the hugely successful Hubble Space Telescope</a>. It boasts a large primary mirror that is protected from the sun by a shield the size of a professional tennis court. In order to fit this technology into an Ariane 5 rocket, both the primary mirror and the sun shield comprise of deployable segments. These then require a complex sequence of individual releases to fire on cue once in space – or risk mission failure. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281360/original/file-20190626-76705-1ew95lq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281360/original/file-20190626-76705-1ew95lq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281360/original/file-20190626-76705-1ew95lq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281360/original/file-20190626-76705-1ew95lq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281360/original/file-20190626-76705-1ew95lq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281360/original/file-20190626-76705-1ew95lq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281360/original/file-20190626-76705-1ew95lq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Primary mirror of the James Webb telescope.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA/MSFC/David Higginbotham</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The ability to fabricate large, lightweight structures directly in orbit could have a huge impact on space technology, getting around the risky hurdle of launching delicate structures from the ground. For example, if structural support material can be printed directly onto reflective membranes in a continuous manufacturing process, then we could make ultra-large reflectors, potentially several hundred meters across.</p>
<p>In polar orbit, such reflectors could be used to illuminate future terrestrial solar power farms at dawn and dusk when their output is low, but demand and spot prices are high. This would be an entirely new class of space service, where the product is energy rather than information. </p>
<p>It could also be used to reflect light in order to create industrial-scale solar thermal power to process material recovered from <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-capture-an-asteroid-and-why-we-should-go-to-such-trouble-58973">near Earth asteroids</a>. For example, a 500 metre radius reflector intercepts the equivalent of 1GW of thermal power – equivalent to the output of a typical power station on Earth. </p>
<p>Baking water from asteroids is a particularly promising avenue as it could help us manufacture propellant in space. Solar-generated electricity could be used to crack the water into hydrogen and oxygen and use them as the fuel. When recombined and ignited they will burn, producing thrust to drive a spacecraft forward. In future, manufacturing propellant in orbit could reduce the cost of future human space ventures by avoiding the need to haul fuel all the way from the Earth’s surface to space.</p>
<p>While Apollo was an example of engineering on a truly heroic scale, future space ventures can be just as exciting, and can deliver lasting societal benefits beyond flags and footprints.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114532/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colin McInnes receives funding from the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nothing to declare.</span></em></p>Scientists are hoping to turn tiny spacecraft into starships by coupling them with large solar sails.Colin McInnes, James Watt Chair, Professor of Engineering Science, University of GlasgowMalcolm McRobb, Research Associate of Systems Power & Energy, University of GlasgowZhongxu Hu, Research Associate of Systems Power and Energy, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1153542019-05-06T10:38:43Z2019-05-06T10:38:43ZBeanie Babies, the invention of CubeSat and student-designed and built satellites<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272353/original/file-20190502-103060-1u1hf05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hundreds of CubeSats are now being launched into space each year.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/small-space-satellite-engineering-development-solder-1323094343?src=Kastu9493k36HAvC2sJYCw-1-27">etonastenka/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The democratization of space began 20 years ago with <a href="https://store.ty.com/app/products_list.cfm?commodity=Beanie%20Babies&product_line=&species=&sizes=&page=1&flex=">Beanie Babies</a> – or, more accurately, the clear acrylic box that brought them home. These 4-inch (10-cm) cubes inspired <a href="https://www.moreheadstate.edu/College-of-Science/Earth-and-Space-Sciences/Faculty-Staff/Robert-J-Twiggs">space engineer Bob Twiggs</a> to create <a href="http://www.cubesat.org/">CubeSat</a>, the first satellite with a standard design.</p>
<p>From 1957 when the first human-made satellite, <a href="https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1957-001B">Sputnik-1</a>, was launched until 1999 when Twiggs proposed CubeSat, satellites came in all shapes and sizes. And almost all satellites were designed from scratch. CubeSat provided the first universally accepted satellite standard – a cube with 4-inch sides and weighing about 3 pounds (1.3 kilograms).</p>
<p>When Twiggs’ conceived the concept of CubeSat, called 1U, his intention was to introduce engineering students to satellite design though hands-on training. Their assignment was to develop and conduct a complete space mission with Sputnik-1-like capabilities. Now, to meet the demands of more complex applications, multiple 1U CubeSats can be combined to form larger systems which are called 2U, 3U and so on.</p>
<p>I am a professor of physics at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, and have designed and flown many spaceflight experiments to study phenomena such as <a href="https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/about-space-weather">space weather</a>, which probes the effects of solar storms on various technologies we rely on for daily life such as radio communication and navigation. I’ve also designed technologies needed to characterize the <a href="https://exoplanets.nasa.gov">exoplanets</a> around nearby stars. I now have the opportunity to share my expertise and inspire a new generation of space engineers by teaching undergraduate students how to design CubeSats, which could eventually be launched into space.</p>
<h2>CubeSat and P-POD: The game changers</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272317/original/file-20190502-103045-1ivc2n2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272317/original/file-20190502-103045-1ivc2n2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272317/original/file-20190502-103045-1ivc2n2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272317/original/file-20190502-103045-1ivc2n2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272317/original/file-20190502-103045-1ivc2n2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272317/original/file-20190502-103045-1ivc2n2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272317/original/file-20190502-103045-1ivc2n2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">UMass Lowell undergraduate student satellite SPACE HAUC in development. Top right shows a full-scale model of the 3U CubeSat. The tape measures will be used as backup antennas. The protective pink foam covers a small camera that will be used to image the Sun.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UMass Lowell</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For more than 50 years access to space was prohibitively expensive and only nations and big corporations with large facilities and an experienced cadre of engineers could finance these ventures. That changed in 1999 when <a href="https://spacenews.com/cubesat-co-inventor-jordi-puig-suari-sails-into-the-sunset/">aerospace engineer Jordi Puig-Suari</a> and Twiggs introduced the <a href="https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/c-missions/cubesat-concept">Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployer (P-POD)</a>, a standard launching system for space-based CubeSat. Each P-POD carries between one and three CubeSats, which in turn, are placed in orbit by launchers carrying science or commercial payloads. Most major launchers usually have excess capacity and allow <a href="https://spacenews.com/small-launch-vehicle-companies-see-rideshare-as-an-opportunity-and-a-threat/">such ridesharing</a>. Once in space, P-PODs deploy their satellites. </p>
<p>CubeSats have now become a mainstay in commercial applications. In 2017, an Indian booster <a href="https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/02/15/india-lofts-a-record-104-spacecraft-on-a-single-rocket/">provided rides to a record 103 nanosatellites</a> – which weigh between 2 and 22 pounds (1 and 10 kilograms). What is even more impressive is that a three-year-old company, <a href="https://www.planet.com">Planet</a>, has developed and launched 88 3U CubeSats for imaging applications.</p>
<p><iframe id="o6Alq" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/o6Alq/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Globally, the space economy is thriving. NASA’s budget is only a fraction of the <a href="https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/media/2018_ast_compendium.pdf">US$345 billion global space enterprise</a>. As a society we have come to rely on systems in space for many aspects of everyday life from communication to assessing climate change and from international security to innovation. </p>
<h2>Student designed CubeSats</h2>
<p>The total number of nanosatellites in space <a href="https://www.nanosats.eu/#figures">has already exceeded 1,000</a>. It is therefore easy to predict high demand for skilled space scientists and technologists in the future. But how do educators train them?</p>
<p>One promising answer is that universities, institutes, nonprofit organizations and even individuals are designing and building nanosatellites. Recognizing the need for capacity building, NASA included CubeSats in its <a href="https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/viewrepositorydocument/cmdocumentid=478807/solicitationId=%7BFABD5D3A-878E-A99F-5D05-87AAD356CC9E%7D/viewSolicitationDocument=1/USIP2015_amend1_NOIdelay.pdf">2015 call for University Student Instrumentation Program</a>. This ongoing program aims to provide undergraduate student teams opportunities to design all aspects of a space mission. The students are expected to build, fly and operate their missions in space, collect data and emerge with the necessary skills to tackle larger projects. </p>
<p><iframe id="Ly2hQ" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Ly2hQ/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-selects-proposals-for-student-flight-research-opportunities">My group was fortunate to be selected</a> for this program. Four undergraduate students helped write our CubeSat proposal. We designed a mission, called <a href="https://www.uml.edu/research/locsst/research/spacehauc/">SPACE HAUC</a> that will demonstrate a new communication system capable of <a href="https://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/5g-waves/4460861/Beam-steering--One-of-5G-s-components">steering beams of data</a> to a ground station at speeds of 50-100 Mbps, significantly faster than from most CubeSats. </p>
<p>This technology could alleviate one of the key technical bottlenecks of CubeSat-based imaging missions: a large quantity of data. It is not easy to transmit so much data using the common data channel, S-band (2-4 GHz), which is available for NASA science missions. X-band communication (8-12 GHz) would allow transmission of 10-20 times the data rate commonly seen in CubeSats, opening up new capabilities. </p>
<p>My students recruited the members of their team and organized themselves into <a href="https://www.uml.edu/Research/LoCSST/Research/spacehauc/subsystems.aspx">functional teams</a>. Just like in a real mission, they hold regular design and project meetings, participate in NASA-mandated reviews and involve faculty and staff only when necessary. They generated computer simulations of each subsystem, built prototypes before manufacturing and, in some cases, purchased commercially available subsystems that met their needs. The complete CubeSat will be assembled and will undergo pre-flight tests this summer for a ride to the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html">International Space Station (ISS)</a> in early 2020. SPACE HAUC will be launched into its orbit from the ISS. </p>
<p>We should start receiving some data about the health and safety data of the satellite within a day of launch from the station. The science and technical data should follow a couple of weeks after that. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271251/original/file-20190427-194633-14jck9t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271251/original/file-20190427-194633-14jck9t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271251/original/file-20190427-194633-14jck9t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271251/original/file-20190427-194633-14jck9t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271251/original/file-20190427-194633-14jck9t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271251/original/file-20190427-194633-14jck9t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271251/original/file-20190427-194633-14jck9t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271251/original/file-20190427-194633-14jck9t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The SPACE HAUC team describing their project to distinguished visitors. From left, undergraduate students Simthyrearch Dy, project manager, and Sanjeev Mehta, communication systems lead. The visitors include James Green, NASA chief scientist, Megan Donahue and Bob Twiggs, inventor of CubeSat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supriya Chakrabarti</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In his May 25, 1961 speech to Congress, President Kennedy noted, <a href="https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/apollo-to-the-moon/online/racing-to-space/moon-decision.cfm">“We go into space because whatever mankind must undertake, free men must fully share.”</a> The Google Lunar X-Prize competition spurred worldwide enthusiasm in private space. While no team met the 2018 deadline, the Beresheet lander by SpaceIL, one of the finalists, <a href="https://www.space.com/spaceil-beresheet.html">came tantalizingly close</a>. With individuals, college students and their <a href="http://www.interorbital.com/Tubesat%20Kits">younger counterparts touching space</a>, we are very close to President Kennedy’s vision.</p>
<p>The genie is out of that clear acrylic box.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115354/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Supriya Chakrabarti receives funding from
NASA, NSF, ONR, BoldlyGo Institute
He is a member of American Astronomical Society, American Geophysical Union, SPIE, serve on advisory boards of Massachusetts Space Grant Consortium and OrbitBeyond, Northeast Radio Observatory Corporation, Boston Area Exoplanet Science Meeting </span></em></p>How do you train space engineers? You enable college students to build mini satellites, called CubeSats, launch them into space and help them collect the data.Supriya Chakrabarti, Professor of Physics, UMass LowellLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/936402018-03-21T05:56:37Z2018-03-21T05:56:37Z60 years in orbit for ‘grapefruit satellite’ – the oldest human object in space<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/211111/original/file-20180320-31608-1qr424l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">One of the Vanguard satellites being checked out at Cape Canaveral, Florida in 1958.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/vanguard-satellite-1958">NASA </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sixty years ago, a grapefruit-sized aluminium sphere with six antennas and some tiny solar cells was launched into Earth orbit. The <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/vanguard-satellite-1958">Vanguard 1 satellite</a> is still up there and is the oldest human-made object in space. It’s our first piece of space archaeology. </p>
<p>Other early satellites – such as Sputnik 1, the first satellite to leave Earth in 1957, and Explorer 1, the first US satellite – have long since re-entered the atmosphere and burnt up.</p>
<p>Vanguard 1’s legacy, as we enter the seventh decade of space travel, is a new generation of small satellites changing the way we interact with space. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-how-do-satellites-get-back-to-earth-82447">Curious Kids: How do satellites get back to Earth?</a>
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<h2>Making the first road map for space</h2>
<p>By the early 1950s, the <a href="http://www.v2rocket.com/">second world war’s rocket technology</a> had developed to the point where the first satellite launch was imminent. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/211096/original/file-20180320-31599-1gkp7t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/211096/original/file-20180320-31599-1gkp7t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/211096/original/file-20180320-31599-1gkp7t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/211096/original/file-20180320-31599-1gkp7t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/211096/original/file-20180320-31599-1gkp7t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1162&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/211096/original/file-20180320-31599-1gkp7t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1162&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/211096/original/file-20180320-31599-1gkp7t1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1162&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A commemorative poster of Vanguard 1 by artist Heidi Neilson, 2012.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The global scientific community had been working towards a massive cooperative effort to study the Earth, called the International Geophysical Year (<a href="http://www.nas.edu/history/igy/">IGY</a>), to take place in 1957-58. What could be better than measuring the Earth from the outside? </p>
<p>Everything we knew about the space environment we had learned from inside the envelope of the atmosphere. The first satellite could change everything.</p>
<p>The IGY committee decided to add a satellite launch to the program, and the “space race” suddenly became real.</p>
<p>Six nations were predicted to have the capability to launch a satellite. They were the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, Japan and Australia.</p>
<p>This was before NASA existed. The <a href="http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties.html">United Nations space treaties</a> had not yet been written. The IGY was effectively building the first road map for using space.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/trash-or-treasure-a-lot-of-space-debris-is-junk-but-some-is-precious-heritage-82832">Trash or treasure? A lot of space debris is junk, but some is precious heritage</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>Waging peace in the Cold War</h2>
<p><a href="https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4202.pdf">Vanguard 1</a> was intended to make the US the first nation in space – hence its name, meaning “leading the way”. The term also refers to the advance troops of a military attack. </p>
<p>Space exploration was not just about science. It was also about winning hearts and minds. These first satellites were ideological weapons to demonstrate the technological superiority of capitalism – or communism.</p>
<p>The problem was that the IGY was a civilian scientific program, but the rocket programs were military.</p>
<p>Project Vanguard was run by the US <a href="https://www.nrl.navy.mil/">Naval Research Laboratory</a>. Public perception was important, and they tried to give the satellite a civilian spin to present the US’s intentions in space as peaceful.</p>
<p>This meant the launch rocket should not be a missile, but a scientific rocket, made for research purposes. Such “sounding rockets” were, however, part of the military programs too – their purpose was to gather information about the little-known upper atmosphere for weapons development. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-the-world-embraces-space-the-50-year-old-outer-space-treaty-needs-adaptation-79833">As the world embraces space, the 50 year old Outer Space Treaty needs adaptation</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<h2>Keep watching the skies!</h2>
<p>The astronomer <a href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/about/flwhipple.html">Fred Whipple</a>, from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, had an idea for the IGY satellite program that would help Project Vanguard present the right image and contribute to the scientific outcomes.</p>
<p>It was all well and good to launch a satellite, but you also had to know where it was in space so that you could collect its data. In the 1950s, the technology to do this was still in its infancy. </p>
<p>And in the words of science fiction author <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/14434-space-is-big-you-just-won-t-believe-how-vastly-hugely">Douglas Adams</a>, space is big. Really big. When something the size of a grapefruit is launched, you can predict where it should end up, but you don’t know if it’s there until you’ve seen it. Someone has to look for it.</p>
<p>This was the purpose of Whipple’s <a href="https://www.universetoday.com/100744/citizen-science-old-school-style-the-true-tale-of-operation-moonwatch/">Project Moonwatch</a>. Volunteers – nowadays we would call them citizen scientists – across the globe watched for the satellite using binoculars and telescopes supplied by the Smithsonian. But their first satellite sighting was not Vanguard 1. The Soviet satellite Sputnik 1 became the first human artefact in orbit on October 4, 1957. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/211101/original/file-20180320-31602-11uj6q4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/211101/original/file-20180320-31602-11uj6q4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/211101/original/file-20180320-31602-11uj6q4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/211101/original/file-20180320-31602-11uj6q4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/211101/original/file-20180320-31602-11uj6q4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/211101/original/file-20180320-31602-11uj6q4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/211101/original/file-20180320-31602-11uj6q4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">1965: Project Moonwatch volunteers in Pretoria, South Africa, one of more than 100 teams worldwide. Each telescope covered a small, overlapping portion of the sky. Smithsonian Institution Archives.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Vanguard 1’s descendants</h2>
<p>Six months later, on March 17, 1958, the little polished sphere was lofted up to a minimum height of around 600km above the Earth, and there it has stayed, long after its batteries died. Technically, Vanguard 1 is <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/space-junk-844">space junk</a>; but it doesn’t pose a great collision risk to other satellites. It has survived so long simply because its orbit is higher than the other early satellites. </p>
<p>The historians <a href="https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4202/begin.html">Constance Green and Milton Lomask</a> say that Vangaurd 1 is the “the progenitor of all American space exploration today”. It wasn’t just the satellite, it was the support systems too, such as the tracking network hosted by multiple nations.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/211130/original/file-20180320-31602-11q7p0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/211130/original/file-20180320-31602-11q7p0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/211130/original/file-20180320-31602-11q7p0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/211130/original/file-20180320-31602-11q7p0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/211130/original/file-20180320-31602-11q7p0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/211130/original/file-20180320-31602-11q7p0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/211130/original/file-20180320-31602-11q7p0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Minitrack interferometer was one of the earliest antennas designed to track satellites. The Minitrack installed at Woomera in the 1950s was later moved to the Orroral Valley NASA Tracking Station near Canberra, where you can still see the antenna pylons. Author’s image.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alice Gorman</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>It was Soviet leader Nikita Krushschev who called Vanguard 1 the “<a href="https://phys.org/news/2008-03-vanguard-celebrates-years-space.html">grapefruit satellite</a>”, and he didn’t mean it as a compliment. But funnily enough, after satellites weighing thousands of kilograms and the size of double-decker buses, the current trend is back to <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-back-in-the-satellite-business-with-a-new-launch-76090">small satellites</a>. </p>
<p>Rather than fruit, these satellites are likened to loaves of bread or washing machines. They’re cheap to build, with off-the-shelf components, and cheap to launch. They’re not meant to stay in orbit for centuries. They’ll do their job for a few months or years, and then self-immolate in the atmosphere.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-back-in-the-satellite-business-with-a-new-launch-76090">Australia's back in the satellite business with a new launch</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>There has been a long tradition of <a href="https://www.amsat.org/">amateur satellites</a>, but now space is more accessible than ever before. Students and space start-ups can get into orbit at a fraction of the cost it used to take. It’s revitalising the space economy and allowing a greater number of people to participate.</p>
<p>For example, QB50 is an international collaboration to launch 50 cubesats to explore the lower <a href="https://scied.ucar.edu/shortcontent/thermosphere-overview">thermosphere</a>. So far, 36 have been launched, including <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/04/18/these-tiny-cube-shaped-satellites-are-launching-australia-back_a_22045161/">three from Australia</a> last year.</p>
<p>Elon Musk’s SpaceX company is planning to launch a network of more than 7,500 small satellites over the next few years, to deliver broadband internet. (There are <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/04/18/these-tiny-cube-shaped-satellites-are-launching-australia-back_a_22045161/">major concerns</a> about how they will contribute to the space junk problem, however).</p>
<p>When Vanguard 1 was launched, its only companions were Explorer 1 and Sputnik 2. Soon it may have thousands of descendants swarming around it.</p>
<p>The little satellite meant to represent the peaceful uses of outer space is a physical reminder of the competition to imprint space with meaning in the early years of the Space Age. Now, 60 years on, it seems we are on the cusp of a new age in space.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Alice Gorman is a panellist for two events at 2018 World Science Festival Brisbane – <a href="https://www.worldsciencefestival.com.au/program/events/space-junk/">Space Junk: Cleaning Up After Ourselves</a> (22 March) and <a href="https://www.worldsciencefestival.com.au/program/events/space-invaders-infinity-beyond/">Space Invaders: To Infinity and Beyond</a> (24 March).</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93640/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alice Gorman is a Board Director of the Space Industry Association of Australia.</span></em></p>When Vanguard 1 – the “grapefruit satellite” – was launched in 1958, its only companions were Explorer 1 and Sputnik 2. Soon it may have thousands of descendants swarming around it.Alice Gorman, Senior Lecturer in archaeology and space studies, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/811002017-07-18T06:20:43Z2017-07-18T06:20:43ZJust one small step for Australia’s space industry when a giant leap is needed<p>An expert review of the Australian space industry’s capabilities to participate in a global market <a href="http://minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/sinodinos/media-releases/expert-review-australia%E2%80%99s-space-industry-capabilities-participate">was announced last week</a> by the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Arthur Sinodinos. He said the aim is to “develop a long-term plan to grow this important and exciting sector” and report in March 2018. </p>
<p>Interestingly, the words “space agency” do not appear in the announcement, but this was addressed later when the minister <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-13/space-agency-on-the-cards-as-australia-announces-review/8703740">spoke to the media</a>.</p>
<p>The space community had been expecting an announcement of this sort for some time. Many expected one to be made for maximum impact at or near the International Astronautical Congress (<a href="http://www.iac2017.org/">IAC</a>) to be held in Adelaide in September, when Australia’s space community will be on show to the world.</p>
<h2>Another failure to launch</h2>
<p>Many also expected that the announcement would be of the establishment of an agency, rather than yet another committee and review of the industry. There seems to be at least one of these every year, with the past year alone seeing the <a href="https://industry.gov.au/industry/IndustrySectors/space/Pages/Review-of-the-Space-Activities-Act-1998.aspx">Space Activities Act review</a>, the <a href="http://www.spaceindustry.com.au/Documents/SIAA%20White%20Paper%20-%20Advancing%20Australia%20in%20Space.pdf">Space Industry Association of Australia (SIAA) white paper</a> and the annual <a href="https://industry.gov.au/industry/IndustrySectors/space/Publications/Pages/The-State-of-Space-Report.aspx">State of Space report</a>.</p>
<p>That frustration was voiced by the Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Labor Senator <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-13/space-agency-on-the-cards-as-australia-announces-review/8703740">Kim Carr</a>, when he said Australia “desperately” needed to move towards having its own space agency.</p>
<p>This is a little rich, as Labor had the opportunity to go to the last election with a comprehensive space policy that included an agency, but failed to do so (<a href="https://theconversation.com/lets-talk-about-the-space-industry-in-australias-election-campaign-61567">like every major party</a>). The 2016 NSW Labor Party Conference event asking if Australia should have a space program (at which I presented) did not lead to substantive action.</p>
<p>In commissioning a review that will not report until next March, the federal government has effectively ensured that there will be no Australian space policy of any merit to discuss at September’s IAC conference. </p>
<p>Australia will not have a space agency, or even a plan for one, when the eyes of the space world are on us. When all that international attention has disappeared next year, the idea could be shelved yet again.</p>
<p>That all sounds rather negative, and may imply an expectation that nothing substantial will happen as a result of this new review.</p>
<p>I have been in the space sector in some capacity since the 1980s and, despite there being many strong reasons (<a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-reasons-why-australia-urgently-needs-a-space-agency-16386">at least 10</a>) to support an agency, I’ve seen this type of thing happen over and over again without result.</p>
<h2>Reasons to act now</h2>
<p>But this time around there are real grounds to expect that things should be different. So what are they?</p>
<p>First, there is what you might call the “<a href="https://www.rocketlabusa.com/">Rocket Lab</a>” effect. When a company started preparing to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-26/new-zealand-launches-first-rocket-into-space/8561958">launch rockets from New Zealand</a>, the logical reaction from the government there was to create an agency, effectively trying to build an industry around this project. In other words, the innovators forced a response from government.</p>
<p>Arguably, this effect is stronger in Australia. Several startup companies are effectively putting the same type of pressure on the Australian government. Two that recently achieved early funding are <a href="http://www.fleet.space/">Fleet</a> in South Australia (doing the “internet of things” from space) and <a href="http://www.gspacetech.com/">Gilmour Space Technologies</a> in Queensland (launching small satellites). There are at least a dozen others.</p>
<p>Second, an Australian space agency makes more sense now than ever before, with the emergence of what has been called “Space 2.0”. The old paradigm of big, expensive satellites and big, clunky agencies has been disrupted by easier access to space and the increasingly commercial use of space. Australia can leapfrog the old way of doing things, because most local start-ups are working on Space 2.0 applications.</p>
<p>The small satellite market causing this disruption is growing at more than <a href="http://www.satmagazine.com/story.php?number=1938099248">20% per year</a> and will be worth about US$7 billion by 2020. Nanosatellites or “cubesats” are fundamental to this growth.</p>
<p>Recently, three cubesats deployed from the International Space Station were the first Australian-built satellites in <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-back-in-the-satellite-business-with-a-new-launch-76090">15 years</a>. The <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-26/australian-cubesats-lost-in-space-found-with-international-help/8651514">story</a> of my team establishing contact with two of them after they were initially silent was a great feat of engineering.</p>
<p>So Australia is already participating in Space 2.0 – we have active nano-satellites launched and innovative companies funded.</p>
<p>Third, the committee appointed by Sinodinos has a healthy number of members not aligned with traditional agency thinking. These include <a href="http://people.csiro.au/W/D/Dave-Williams">David Williams</a> from CSIRO. He set up the UK agency, which is <a href="https://theconversation.com/investing-in-space-what-the-uk-space-agency-can-teach-australia-28559">a good model for Australia to follow</a> given it is focused on industry growth.</p>
<p>Also on the committee are local entrepreneurs Jason Held (<a href="https://saberastro.com/">Saber Astronautics</a>) and Flavia Tata Nardini (<a href="http://www.fleet.space/open-letter/">Fleet</a>), who run small companies with new approaches to space. </p>
<p>The absence of large multinationals has been lamented by some commentators, but not by me. The Communications Alliance is a voice for Australian’s communications industry, including those involved in the satellite industry, and its chief executive John Stanton was quoted in a Communications Day newsletter saying the review was “remarkably light on industry participants”.</p>
<p>In any case, large companies are represented by Michael Davis of the Space Industry Association of Australia (SIAA), which <a href="http://www.spaceindustry.com.au/database/dbase_public.php">lists almost 400 Australian organisations</a> as members.</p>
<p>Fourth, most of the case for an agency has already been made by the SIAA in its recent <a href="http://www.spaceindustry.com.au/Documents/SIAA%20White%20Paper%20-%20Advancing%20Australia%20in%20Space.pdf">white paper</a>. This does much of the new review committee’s work for it, and allows it to use the time between now and March to try to define the role and structure that any agency will take.</p>
<p>Fifth, the current government has already shown a willingness to facilitate growth in the sector by <a href="https://industry.gov.au/industry/IndustrySectors/space/Pages/Review-of-the-Space-Activities-Act-1998.aspx">reforming the Space Activities Act</a>. Although the Act is primarily regulatory, and its reform is an exercise in removal of red tape, the move will genuinely make it easier to run space businesses in Australia.</p>
<p>Finally, this industry attracts innovators like almost no other - <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jun/16/life-on-mars-elon-musk-reveals-details-of-his-colonisation-vision">Elon Musk’s efforts to get to Mars</a> are only one high-profile example.</p>
<p>There is a groundswell of activity right here, right now, with a critical mass of brilliant young minds developing a 21st-century space industry, but needing supportive infrastructure to make it happen. </p>
<p>In other words, the environment and timing are right for the establishment of an Australian space agency. This review is just one small step towards that goal. At least it’s in the right direction, but is it necessary at all?</p>
<p>With Labor’s only complaint being that an agency is not being launched soon enough, bipartisanship on the issue seems assured. So why not take the giant leap?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81100/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Dempster receives funding from the Australian Research Council. He is on the Advisory Committee of the Space Industry Association of Australia. </span></em></p>We don’t need another review of Australia’s space industry, we just need a space agency.Andrew Dempster, Director, Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research; Professor, School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/760902017-04-18T05:01:51Z2017-04-18T05:01:51ZAustralia’s back in the satellite business with a new launch<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165181/original/image-20170413-25865-7xicuu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=686%2C0%2C2082%2C1245&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An artist's impression of the UNSW-EC0 cubesat in Earth's orbit.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">UNSW</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The first Australian-built satellites to be launched in 15 years are set to take off this week from Cape Canaveral in Florida. </p>
<p>Unlike the enormous satellites Australia uses for telecommunications, each of these new satellites is the size of a loaf of bread. But although small, they may provide a key step in enabling Australia’s entry into the global satellite market.</p>
<p>Three types of <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/what-are-smallsats-and-cubesats">cubesats</a> are the Australian contribution to the international <a href="https://www.qb50.eu/">QB50</a> mission, in which 36 satellites from different institutions around the world will carry instruments provided by the Von Karman Institute (<a href="https://www.vki.ac.be/">VKI</a>) to examine the lower <a href="https://scied.ucar.edu/shortcontent/thermosphere-overview">thermosphere</a>. This is a very interesting part of the <a href="http://www.acser.unsw.edu.au/QB50">atmosphere</a> for several reasons, such as the way it disturbs GPS measurements.</p>
<p>The cubesats will be first delivered to the International Space Station, and then released into their orbits.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2Cen3uMG_ik?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">One of Australia’s entries in the cubesat race to space.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The three teams that developed the Australian cubesats are: one from <a href="http://www.acser.unsw.edu.au/QB50">UNSW</a>, one collaboration between the <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/inspire-cubesat/project/index.shtml">University of Sydney, the Australian National University and UNSW</a>, and one collaboration between the <a href="https://upload.qb50.eu/detail/AU01/">universities of Adelaide and South Australia</a>.</p>
<p>Once the VKI instrument and support systems (power, communications, and so on) are installed, there is still room for the teams to install payloads of their own.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165182/original/image-20170413-25878-1b0rzpo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165182/original/image-20170413-25878-1b0rzpo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165182/original/image-20170413-25878-1b0rzpo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165182/original/image-20170413-25878-1b0rzpo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165182/original/image-20170413-25878-1b0rzpo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165182/original/image-20170413-25878-1b0rzpo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165182/original/image-20170413-25878-1b0rzpo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165182/original/image-20170413-25878-1b0rzpo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">PhD student Ben Southwell working on the loaf-sized UNSW-ECO satellite at AITC.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UNSW</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The UNSW cubesat, known as UNSW-EC0, is running <a href="http://www.acser.unsw.edu.au/QB50#experimental">four experiments</a> including a GPS receiver, and two boards testing radiation-robust software and self-healing electronics. The fourth experiment is to test the satellite’s chassis, built using a 3D-printed material never before flown in space.</p>
<p>The launch is significant, not just because it is so long since Australia built satellites, but because it could be the start of something much bigger. </p>
<h2>Small is good</h2>
<p>Globally, the space industry had an estimated <a href="http://audacy.space/blog/2016/10/21/vcs-in-space">US$335 billion (AU$440 billion) turnover</a> in 2015. It’s expected to reach <a href="http://www.ukspace.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Space-IGS-Space-Growth-Action-Plan-2014-2030-Nov-2013.pdf">US$1 trillion (AU$1.3 trillion) </a> by 2030.</p>
<p>This is an innovation sector Australia cannot ignore, and small satellites – especially <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cubesats/overview">nano-satellites or cubesats</a> – offer Australia a way in.</p>
<p>According to a report last month by <a href="https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/small-satellite-market">Allied Market Research</a>, the small satellite market is expected to be worth US$7 billion (AU$9.2 billion) by 2020, with a compound annual growth rate of about 20%.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165183/original/image-20170413-25882-10vf0jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165183/original/image-20170413-25882-10vf0jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165183/original/image-20170413-25882-10vf0jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165183/original/image-20170413-25882-10vf0jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165183/original/image-20170413-25882-10vf0jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165183/original/image-20170413-25882-10vf0jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165183/original/image-20170413-25882-10vf0jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165183/original/image-20170413-25882-10vf0jw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Artist’s impression of UNSW-ECO in orbit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UNSW</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Analyst Spaceworks <a href="http://spaceworkseng.com/spaceworks-releases-2017-nanomicrosatellite-market-assessment/">said in February</a> that by 2023, the requirement for launches in the 1kg to 50kg class will be 320 to 460 satellites per year, more than 70% of them for commercial purposes. </p>
<p>Another analyst Euroconsult <a href="http://www.euroconsult-ec.com/7_July_2016">last year said</a> there would be more than 3,500 small satellite launches in the next decade, worth US$22 billion (AU$29 billion) with launch earnings of US$5.3 billion (AU$7 billion). That’s a 76% increase over the previous decade.</p>
<h2>Australia in space</h2>
<p>This disruption has the potential to be more important for Australia than for any other developed nation. </p>
<p>Australia is the largest economy in the world not to have a space agency, which I have <a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-reasons-why-australia-urgently-needs-a-space-agency-16386">highlighted before</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/investing-in-space-what-the-uk-space-agency-can-teach-australia-28559">suggested</a> ways <a href="https://theconversation.com/lets-talk-about-the-space-industry-in-australias-election-campaign-61567">forward</a>. As a result, Australia has not developed a traditional space industry.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165514/original/image-20170418-32689-1y7zsml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165514/original/image-20170418-32689-1y7zsml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165514/original/image-20170418-32689-1y7zsml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165514/original/image-20170418-32689-1y7zsml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165514/original/image-20170418-32689-1y7zsml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165514/original/image-20170418-32689-1y7zsml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165514/original/image-20170418-32689-1y7zsml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165514/original/image-20170418-32689-1y7zsml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The University of Sydney’s Prof Iver Cairns with its i-INSPIRE-2 cubesat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UNSW/University of Sydney</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Exploiting cubesats offers an opportunity for Australia to participate in this industry, despite the absence of an agency.</p>
<p>In the same way that the success of <a href="https://www.rocketlabusa.com/">Rocket Lab</a> forced New Zealand to establish a <a href="http://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/sectors-industries/space">space agency</a>, Australia’s success with cubesats could finally see the establishment of an agency here.</p>
<h2>A gathering of space minds</h2>
<p>The launch of the QB50 cubesats has been delayed several times and is currently slated for 1am (AEST) on Wednesday April 19.</p>
<p>So by sheer coincidence it will coincide with a gathering in Sydney of the Australian cubesat community – <a href="http://www.acser.unsw.edu.au/cubesat2017">CUBESAT 2017: Launching Cubesats for and from Australia</a> – that will showcase some of the remarkable progress Australia has made in recent years.</p>
<p>This includes three cubesat missions that have constructed satellites – QB50 mentioned above, and <a href="https://www.dst.defence.gov.au/news/2016/10/20/satellite-research-partnership-forefront-australian-space-research">a further two</a> from the Defence Science and Technology Group: Biarri (two launches of one cubesat and three cubesats) and Buccaneer (one cubesat).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165184/original/image-20170413-25878-u1lwoy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165184/original/image-20170413-25878-u1lwoy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165184/original/image-20170413-25878-u1lwoy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165184/original/image-20170413-25878-u1lwoy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165184/original/image-20170413-25878-u1lwoy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165184/original/image-20170413-25878-u1lwoy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165184/original/image-20170413-25878-u1lwoy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165184/original/image-20170413-25878-u1lwoy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dr Barnaby Osborne, Dr Joon Wayn Cheong and John Lam with early stage UNSW-ECO.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UNSW</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A large number of Australian start-ups are looking to operate in the global small satellite market. </p>
<p>Several companies are developing launch capability, including <a href="http://www.gspacetech.com/">Gilmour Space Technologies</a> in Queensland. Other companies are developing ground segment capability to help manage operational satellites including <a href="https://saberastro.com/">Saber Astronautics</a> in Sydney. Some are developing cubesat components such as <a href="http://www.obelisksystems.com/">Obelisk Systems</a> in Maitland, New South Wales.</p>
<p>Ambitiously, there are also companies looking to develop cubesat constellations, which are large numbers of satellites with orbits optimised for global coverage for a range of different applications. The Australian leader at present is <a href="http://www.fleet.space/">Fleet</a> from Adelaide.</p>
<h2>Government interest</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.acser.unsw.edu.au/cubesat2017">CUBESAT 2017</a> is the second workshop of its kind. When the first was run, two years ago, there was no way then to anticipate the huge leaps Australia has made in this niche area of space. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165185/original/image-20170413-25901-1owofcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165185/original/image-20170413-25901-1owofcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165185/original/image-20170413-25901-1owofcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165185/original/image-20170413-25901-1owofcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165185/original/image-20170413-25901-1owofcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165185/original/image-20170413-25901-1owofcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165185/original/image-20170413-25901-1owofcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165185/original/image-20170413-25901-1owofcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Artist’s impression of UNSW-ECO leaving the International Space Station.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UNSW</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Recently, the Space Industry Association of Australia released a <a href="http://www.spaceindustry.com.au/Documents/SIAA%20White%20Paper%20-%20Advancing%20Australia%20in%20Space.pdf">white paper</a> calling for a space agency. </p>
<p>There was some encouragement for the community in the <a href="http://www.skynews.com.au/news/politics/federal/2017/03/18/space-researchers-call-for-government-action.html">response</a> from the federal Science Minister, Senator Arthur Sinodinos, to that call when he said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m quite excited at the idea of us doing more in space.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So there is hope we may see some developments.</p>
<p>In terms of cubesats, it is with great excitement we look forward to where we’ll be in the next two years, when perhaps we can say, with Australian-made assets in space, that the Australian space industry has finally been established.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76090/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Dempster is Director of the Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research at UNSW. He manages one of the teams that developed the cubesats mentioned and will host the workshop mentioned. He receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
</span></em></p>Australia’s hoping to take a share of the billion-dollar space industry with the launch of its first totally Australian-built satellites in 15 years.Andrew Dempster, Director, Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research; Professor, School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/714402017-01-27T02:35:34Z2017-01-27T02:35:34ZSmallSat revolution: Tiny satellites poised to make big contributions to essential science<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154496/original/image-20170127-30424-1e98jf7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tiny CubeSats are ready to be our eyes in the skies.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Earth Background: NASA; HARP Spacecraft: SDL; Montage: Martins, UMBC</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tiny satellites, some smaller than a shoe box, are currently orbiting around 200 miles above Earth, collecting data about our planet and the universe. It’s not just their small stature but also their accompanying smaller cost that sets them apart from the bigger commercial satellites that beam phone calls and GPS signals around the world, for instance. These SmallSats are poised to change the way we do science from space. Their cheaper price tag means we can launch more of them, allowing for constellations of simultaneous measurements from different viewing locations multiple times a day – a bounty of data which would be cost-prohibitive with traditional, larger platforms.</p>
<p>Called <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/what-are-smallsats-and-cubesats">SmallSats</a>, these devices can range from the size of large kitchen refrigerators down to the size of golf balls. Nanosatellites are on that smaller end of the spectrum, weighing between one and 10 kilograms and averaging the size of a loaf of bread.</p>
<p>Starting in 1999, professors from Stanford and California Polytechnic universities established a standard for nanosatellites. They devised a modular system, with nominal units (1U cubes) of 10x10x10 centimeters and 1kg weight. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CubeSat">CubeSats</a> grow in size by the agglomeration of these units – 1.5U, 2U, 3U, 6U and so on. Since CubeSats can be built with commercial off-the-shelf parts, their development made space exploration accessible to many people and organizations, especially students, colleges and universities. Increased access also allowed various countries – including <a href="http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Colombia_Launches_First_Satellite_999.html">Colombia</a>, <a href="http://www.esa.int/Education/Meet_the_teams_PW-Sat">Poland</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESTCube-1">Estonia</a>, <a href="http://www.esa.int/Education/Meet_the_teams_Masat-1">Hungary</a>, <a href="http://www.esa.int/Education/Meet_the_teams_Goliat">Romania</a> and <a href="http://www.dawn.com/news/1057688">Pakistan</a> – to launch CubeSats as their first satellites and pioneer their space exploration programs.</p>
<p>Initial CubeSats were designed as educational tools and technological proofs-of-concept, demonstrating their ability to fly and perform needed operations in the harsh space environment. Like all space explorers, they have to contend with vacuum conditions, cosmic radiation, wide temperature swings, high speed, atomic oxygen and more. With <a href="https://sites.google.com/a/slu.edu/swartwout/home/cubesat-database">almost 500 launches to date</a>, they’ve also raised concerns about the increasing amount of “space junk” orbiting Earth, especially as they come almost <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-future-of-personal-satellite-technology-is-here-are-we-ready-for-it-58478">within reach for hobbyists</a>. But as the capabilities of these nanosatellites increase and their possible contributions grow, they’ve earned their own place in space. </p>
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<h2>From proof of concept to science applications</h2>
<p>When thinking about artificial satellites, we have to make a distinction between the spacecraft itself (often called the “satellite bus”) and the payload (usually a scientific instrument, cameras or active components with very specific functions). Typically, the size of a spacecraft determines how much it can carry and operate as a science payload. As technology improves, small spacecraft become more and more capable of supporting more and more sophisticated instruments. </p>
<p>These advanced nanosatellite payloads mean SmallSats have grown up and can now help increase our knowledge about Earth and the universe. This revolution is well underway; many governmental organizations, private companies and foundations are investing in the design of CubeSat buses and payloads that aim to answer specific science questions, covering a broad range of sciences including <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasas-icecube-no-longer-on-ice">weather and climate on Earth</a>, <a href="http://www.sdl.usu.edu/programs/dice">space weather and cosmic rays</a>, <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard/feature/the-caped-crusader-goddard-technologist-advances-cubesat-concept-for-planetary-exploration">planetary exploration</a> and <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/lunar-icecube-to-take-on-big-mission-from-small-package">much more</a>. They can also act as pathfinders for bigger and more expensive satellite missions that will address these questions.</p>
<p>I’m leading a team here at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County that’s collaborating on a science-focused CubeSat spacecraft. Our <a href="http://userpages.umbc.edu/%7Emartins/laco/harp.htm">Hyper Angular Rainbow Polarimeter (HARP)</a> payload is designed to observe interactions between clouds and aerosols – small particles such as pollution, dust, sea salt or pollen, suspended in Earth’s atmosphere. HARP is poised to be the first U.S. imaging <a href="http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/light/Lesson-1/Polarization">polarimeter</a> in space. It’s an example of the kind of advanced scientific instrument it wouldn’t have been possible to cram onto a tiny CubeSat in their early days.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154311/original/image-20170125-23878-1q4zrq1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154311/original/image-20170125-23878-1q4zrq1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154311/original/image-20170125-23878-1q4zrq1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154311/original/image-20170125-23878-1q4zrq1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154311/original/image-20170125-23878-1q4zrq1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154311/original/image-20170125-23878-1q4zrq1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154311/original/image-20170125-23878-1q4zrq1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154311/original/image-20170125-23878-1q4zrq1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">HARP spacecraft and payload at different stages of development.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Spacecraft: SDL, Payload:UMBC</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Funded by <a href="https://esto.nasa.gov/">NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office</a>, HARP will ride on the CubeSat spacecraft developed by Utah State University’s <a href="http://www.sdl.usu.edu/">Space Dynamics Lab</a>. Breaking the tradition of using consumer off-the-shelf parts for CubeSat payloads, the HARP team has taken a different approach. We’ve optimized our instrument with custom-designed and custom-fabricated parts specialized to perform the delicate multi-angle, multi-spectral polarization measurements required by HARP’s science objectives. </p>
<p>HARP is currently scheduled for launch in June 2017 to the International Space Station. Shortly thereafter it will be released and become a fully autonomous, data-collecting satellite.</p>
<h2>SmallSats – big science</h2>
<p>HARP is designed to see how aerosols interact with the water droplets and ice particles that make up clouds. Aerosols and clouds are deeply connected in Earth’s atmosphere – it’s aerosol particles that seed cloud droplets and allow them to grow into clouds that eventually drop their precipitation.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154492/original/image-20170127-30407-1xkdwsx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154492/original/image-20170127-30407-1xkdwsx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154492/original/image-20170127-30407-1xkdwsx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154492/original/image-20170127-30407-1xkdwsx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154492/original/image-20170127-30407-1xkdwsx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154492/original/image-20170127-30407-1xkdwsx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154492/original/image-20170127-30407-1xkdwsx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154492/original/image-20170127-30407-1xkdwsx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pollution particles lead to precipitation changes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Martins, UMBC</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This interdependence implies that modifying the amount and type of particles in the atmosphere, via air pollution, will affect the type, size and lifetime of clouds, as well as when precipitation begins. These processes will affect <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1092779">Earth’s global water cycle</a>, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1159185">energy balance and climate</a>. </p>
<p>When sunlight interacts with aerosol particles or cloud droplets in the atmosphere, it scatters in different directions depending on the size, shape and composition of what it encountered. HARP will measure the scattered light that can be seen from space. We’ll be able to make inferences about amounts of aerosols and sizes of droplets in the atmosphere, and compare clean clouds to polluted clouds.</p>
<p>In principle, the HARP instrument would have the ability to collect data daily, covering the whole globe; despite its mini size it would be gathering huge amounts of data for Earth observation. This type of capability is unprecedented in a tiny satellite and points to the future of cheaper, faster-to-deploy pathfinder precursors to bigger and more complex missions. </p>
<p>HARP is one of several programs currently underway that harness the advantages of CubeSats for science data collection. NASA, universities and other institutions are exploring <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=5506">new earth sciences technology</a>, <a href="https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/r/ravan">Earth’s radiative cycle</a>, <a href="https://beaverworks.ll.mit.edu/CMS/bw/projectmirata">Earth’s microwave emission</a>, <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasas-icecube-no-longer-on-ice">ice clouds</a> and many other science and engineering challenges. Most recently MIT has been funded to launch a constellation of 12 CubeSats called <a href="https://tropics.ll.mit.edu/CMS/tropics/">TROPICS</a> to study precipitation and storm intensity in Earth’s atmosphere.</p>
<h2>For now, size still matters</h2>
<p>But the nature of CubeSats still restricts the science they can do. Limitations in power, storage and, most importantly, ability to transmit the information back to Earth impede our ability to continuously run our HARP instrument within a CubeSat platform. </p>
<p>So as another part of our effort, we’ll be observing how HARP does as it makes its scientific observations. Here at UMBC we’ve created the Center for Earth and Space Studies to study how well small satellites do at answering science questions regarding Earth systems and space. This is where HARP’s raw data will be converted and interpreted. Beyond answering questions about cloud/aerosol interactions, the next goal is to determine how to best use SmallSats and other technologies for Earth and space science applications. Seeing what works and what doesn’t will help inform larger space missions and future operations.</p>
<p>The SmallSat revolution, boosted by popular access to space via CubeSats, is now rushing toward the next revolution. The next generation of nanosatellite payloads will advance the frontiers of science. They may never supersede the need for bigger and more powerful satellites, but NanoSats will continue to expand their own role in the ongoing race to explore Earth and the universe.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71440/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>J. Vanderlei Martins receives funding from NASA. He works for University of Maryland, Baltimore County and owns a company called AirPhoton which manufactures in situ instruments for aerosol measurements.</span></em></p>As technology advances, tiny satellites no bigger than a loaf of bread have advanced from just proving they work to being big contributors in answering science questions.J. Vanderlei Martins, Professor of Physics, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/584782016-05-26T01:24:20Z2016-05-26T01:24:20ZThe future of personal satellite technology is here – are we ready for it?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124026/original/image-20160525-17595-isdv6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">CubeSats upon release from the International Space Station.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://secure.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/8054844339">NASA Johnson</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Satellites used to be the exclusive playthings of rich governments and wealthy corporations. But increasingly, as space becomes more democratized, these sophisticated technologies are coming within reach of ordinary people. Just like drones before them, miniature satellites are beginning to fundamentally transform our conceptions of who gets to do what up above our heads.</p>
<p>As a <a href="http://www.nap.edu/catalog/23503/achieving-science-with-cubesats-thinking-inside-the-box">recent report</a> from the <a href="http://www.nasonline.org">National Academy of Sciences</a> highlights, these satellites hold tremendous potential for making satellite-based science more accessible than ever before. However, as the cost of getting your own satellite in orbit plummets, the risks of irresponsible use grow.</p>
<p>The question here is no longer “Can we?” but “Should we?” What are the potential downsides of having a slice of space densely populated by equipment built by people not traditionally labeled as “professionals”? And what would the responsible and beneficial development and use of this technology actually look like?</p>
<p>Some of the answers may come from a nonprofit organization that has been building and launching amateur satellites for nearly 50 years.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124030/original/image-20160525-25222-13zqxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124030/original/image-20160525-25222-13zqxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124030/original/image-20160525-25222-13zqxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124030/original/image-20160525-25222-13zqxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124030/original/image-20160525-25222-13zqxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124030/original/image-20160525-25222-13zqxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124030/original/image-20160525-25222-13zqxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124030/original/image-20160525-25222-13zqxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Just a few inches across and ready for orbit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:F-1_CubeSat_Flight_Model.jpg">Thuvt</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The technology we’re talking about</h2>
<p>Having your own personal satellite launched into orbit might sound like an idea straight out of science fiction. But over the past few decades a unique class of satellites has been created that fits the bill: CubeSats.</p>
<p>The “Cube” here simply refers to the satellite’s shape. The most common CubeSat (the so-called <a href="http://www.cubesat.org/">“1U” satellite</a>) is a 10 cm (roughly 4 inches) cube, so small that a single CubeSat could easily be mistaken for a paperweight on your desk. These mini, modular satellites can fit in a launch vehicle’s formerly “wasted space.” Multiples can be deployed in combination for more complex missions than could be achieved by one CubeSat alone. </p>
<p>Within their compact bodies these minute satellites are able to house sensors and communications receivers/transmitters that enable operators to study the Earth from space, as well as space around the Earth. </p>
<p>They’re primarily designed for Low Earth Orbit (<a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/09/whats-special-low-earth-orbit/">LEO</a>) – an easily accessible region of space from around 200 to 800 miles above the Earth, where human-tended missions like the <a href="http://hubblesite.org/the_telescope/">Hubble Space Telescope</a> and the International Space Station (<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/the-international-space-station-is-a-unique-place">ISS</a>) hang out. But they can attain more distant orbits; NASA plans for most of its future Earth-escaping payloads (<a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cubesat/missions/lunar_flashlight.php">to the moon</a> and <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cubesat/missions/marco.php">Mars</a> especially) to carry CubeSats.</p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/161656838" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Because they’re so small and light, it costs much less to get a CubeSat into Earth orbit than a traditional communication or GPS satellite. For instance, a research group here at Arizona State University recently claimed their developmental “femtosats” (especially small CubeSats) <a href="https://asunow.asu.edu/20160406-creativity-asu-suncube-femtosat-space-exploration-for-everyone">could cost as little as US$3,000</a> to put in orbit. This decrease in cost is allowing researchers, hobbyists and <a href="http://www.arrl.org/news/view/elementary-school-s-stmsat-1-cubesat-now-in-orbit">even elementary school groups</a> to put simple instruments into LEO, by piggybacking onto rocket launches, or even having them <a href="http://nanoracks.com/products/smallsat-deployment/">deployed from the ISS</a>. </p>
<p>The first CubeSat was created in the early 2000s, as a way of enabling CalPoly and Stanford graduate students to <a href="http://www.isispace.nl/cubesats/#cubesats-history">design, build, test and operate a spacecraft</a> with similar capabilities to the USSR’s <a href="http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/">Sputnik</a>.</p>
<p>Since then, NASA, the <a href="http://www.nro.gov/">National Reconnaissance Office</a> and even Boeing have all launched and operated CubeSats. There are more than 130 currently operational in orbit. The NASA Educational Launch of Nano Satellite (<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats/elana/index.html">ELaNa</a>) program, which offers free launches for educational groups and science missions, is now open to U.S. nonprofit corporations as well. </p>
<p>Clearly, satellites are not just for rocket scientists anymore.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124035/original/image-20160525-25213-iyipzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124035/original/image-20160525-25213-iyipzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124035/original/image-20160525-25213-iyipzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124035/original/image-20160525-25213-iyipzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124035/original/image-20160525-25213-iyipzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124035/original/image-20160525-25213-iyipzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124035/original/image-20160525-25213-iyipzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124035/original/image-20160525-25213-iyipzp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pre-K through 8th grade students at St. Thomas More Cathedral School in Arlington, Virginia designed, built and tested a CubeSat that was deployed in space.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.nasa.gov/feature/first-cubesat-built-by-an-elementary-school-deployed-into-space">NASA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Thinking inside the box</h2>
<p>The National Academy of Sciences report emphasizes CubeSats’ importance in scientific discovery and the training of future space scientists and engineers. Yet it also acknowledges that widespread deployment of LEO CubeSats isn’t risk-free.</p>
<p>The greatest concern the authors raise is space debris – pieces of “junk” that orbit the earth, with the potential to cause serious damage if they collide with operational units, including the ISS. </p>
<p>Currently, there aren’t many CubeSats and they’re tracked closely. Yet as LEO opens up to more amateur satellites, <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329882-500-cubesat-craze-could-create-space-debris-catastrophe/">they may pose an increasing threat</a>. <a href="http://www.nap.edu/read/23503/chapter/8">As the report authors point out</a>, even near-misses might lead to the “creation of an onerous regulatory framework and affect the future disposition of science CubeSats.”</p>
<p>More broadly, the report authors focus on factors that might impede greater use of CubeSat technologies. These include regulations around earth-space radio communications, possible impacts of International Traffic in Arms Regulations (which govern import and export of defense-related articles and services in the U.S.), and potential issues around extra-terrestrial contamination.</p>
<p>But what about the rest of us? How can we be sure that hobbyists and others aren’t launching their own “spy” satellites, or (intentionally or not) placing polluting technologies into LEO, or even deploying low-cost CubeSat networks that could be hijacked and used nefariously?</p>
<p>As CubeSat researchers are quick to point out, these are far-fetched scenarios. But they suggest that now’s the time to ponder unexpected and unintended possible consequences of more people than ever having access to their own small slice of space. In an era when you can simply <a href="http://www.cubesatkit.com">buy a CubeSat kit off the shelf</a>, how can we trust the satellites over our heads were developed with good intentions by people who knew what they were doing?</p>
<p>Some “expert amateurs” in the satellite game could provide some inspiration for how to proceed responsibly.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124012/original/image-20160525-25239-1yv2dnt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124012/original/image-20160525-25239-1yv2dnt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124012/original/image-20160525-25239-1yv2dnt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124012/original/image-20160525-25239-1yv2dnt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124012/original/image-20160525-25239-1yv2dnt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124012/original/image-20160525-25239-1yv2dnt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124012/original/image-20160525-25239-1yv2dnt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124012/original/image-20160525-25239-1yv2dnt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Modular CubeSats deployed from ISS.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://secure.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/12468001753">NASA Johnson</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Guidance from some experienced amateurs</h2>
<p>In 1969, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (<a href="http://www.amsat.org/">AMSAT</a>) was created in order to foster ham radio enthusiasts’ participation in space research and communication. It continued the efforts, begun in 1961, by Project OSCAR – a U.S.-based group that <a href="http://airandspace.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?object=nasm_A19640011000">built and launched</a> the very first nongovernmental satellite just four years after Sputnik.</p>
<p>As an organization of volunteers, AMSAT was putting “amateur” satellites in orbit decades before the current CubeSat craze. And over time, its members have learned a thing or two about responsibility. </p>
<p>Here, open-source development has been a central principle. Within the organization, AMSAT has a philosophy of open sourcing everything – making technical data on all aspects of their satellites fully available to everyone in the organization, and when possible, the public. According to a member of the team responsible for <a href="http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=1113">FOX 1-A, AMSAT’s first CubeSat</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>This means that it would be incredibly difficult to sneak something by us … there’s no way to smuggle explosives or an energy emitter into an amateur satellite when everyone has access to the designs and implementation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, they’re more cautious about sharing info with nonmembers, as the organization guards against others developing the ability to hijack and take control of their satellites.</p>
<p>This form of “self-governance” is possible within long-standing amateur organizations that, over time, are able to build a sense of responsibility to community members, as well as society more generally.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124028/original/image-20160525-25247-1w9f7qw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124028/original/image-20160525-25247-1w9f7qw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124028/original/image-20160525-25247-1w9f7qw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124028/original/image-20160525-25247-1w9f7qw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124028/original/image-20160525-25247-1w9f7qw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124028/original/image-20160525-25247-1w9f7qw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124028/original/image-20160525-25247-1w9f7qw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124028/original/image-20160525-25247-1w9f7qw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">AMSAT has a long history as a collaborative community.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://secure.flickr.com/photos/ke9v/4608745232">Jeff Davis</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How does responsible development evolve?</h2>
<p>But what happens when new players emerge, who don’t have deep roots within the existing culture?</p>
<p>Hobbyist and student “new kids on the block” are gaining access to technologies without being part of a longstanding amateur establishment. They are still constrained by funders, launch providers and a tapestry of regulations – all of which rein in what CubeSat developers can and cannot do. But there is a danger they’re ill-equipped to think through potential unintended consequences.</p>
<p>What these unintended consequences might be is admittedly far from clear. Certainly, CubeSat developers would argue it’s hard to imagine these tiny satellites causing substantial physical harm. Yet we know innovators can be remarkably creative with taking technologies in unexpected directions. Think of something as seemingly benign as the cellphone – we have microfinance and text-based social networking at one end of the spectrum, improvised explosive devices at the other.</p>
<p>This is where a culture of social responsibility around CubeSats becomes important – not simply for ensuring that physical risks are minimized (and good practices <a href="http://spacenews.com/1-in-5-cubesats-violate-international-orbit-disposal-guidelines/">are adhered to</a>), but also to engage with a much larger community in anticipating and managing less obvious consequences of the technology.</p>
<p>This is not an easy task. Yet the evidence from AMSAT and other areas of technology development suggest that responsible amateur communities can and do emerge around novel technologies.</p>
<p>For instance, see the <a href="https://diybio.org/">diy-bio community</a>, where hobbyists work in advanced community biotech labs. Their <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/531167a">growing community commitment</a> to safety and responsibility is highlighting how amateurs can embrace responsibility in research and innovation. A similar commitment is seen within open-source software and hardware communities, <a href="http://www.linuxfoundation.org/">such as the members of the Linux Foundation</a>.</p>
<p>The challenge here, of course, is ensuring that what an amateur community considers to be responsible, actually is. Here’s where there needs to be a much wider public conversation that extends beyond government agencies and scientific communities to include students, hobbyists, and anyone who may potentially stand to be affected by the use of CubeSat technology.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58478/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Garbee is affiliated with AMSAT. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Maynard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Just about anyone can get a tiny, cheap satellite into orbit these days. As we consider how to deploy them responsibly, inspiration comes from an amateur community of enthusiasts.Elizabeth Garbee, Ph.D. Student in the Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology, Arizona State UniversityAndrew Maynard, Director, Risk Innovation Lab, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/416212015-05-18T04:31:41Z2015-05-18T04:31:41ZCool cubes are changing the way we play in space<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81470/original/image-20150512-25056-1bbmrhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">TshepisoSAT, Africa’s first nano-satellite developed by students and staff at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">CPUT</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A tiny cube, slightly smaller than a loaf of bread, is the new manna to heaven, as the number of nano-satellites being hurled into orbit is <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/techonomy/2013/11/10/nanosatellites-will-give-everyone-access-to-space/">increasing substantially</a>.</p>
<p>Nano-satellites are small satellites weighing between <a href="https://www.classle.net/faq/how-nano-satellites-are-designed-and-what-advantage-nano-satellite">1 kg and 10 kg</a>. <a href="http://www.cubesat.org">CubeSats</a> are box-shaped versions of nano-satellites. They are very light compared to the traditional satellites which can weigh anything up to <a href="http://www.astrobio.net/news-exclusive/tiny-satellites-for-big-science/">a few tons</a>. </p>
<p>Pretty much in the vein of mobile phone hand-sets, satellites have also become smaller and better. They cost less but have the capability of bigger satellites of the past. </p>
<p>In their short existence nano-satellites have seen a remarkable uptake globally among universities and recent business start-ups. The exciting era of nano-satellites <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/technology-quarterly/21603240-small-satellites-taking-advantage-smartphones-and-other-consumer-technologies">has begun</a>.</p>
<h2>Cost effective and nimble</h2>
<p>Since 2000, more than 300 CubeSats have been launched, of which American start-up <a href="http://www.planet.com">Planet Labs</a> accounts for a third. It is expected that up to 3000 <a href="http://www.sei.aero/eng/papers/uploads/archive/SpaceWorks_Nano_Microsatellite_Market_Assessment_January_2014.pdf">nano- and micro-satellites will be launched</a> over the next 5 years. </p>
<p>While the cost of a big satellite can run into hundreds of millions of dollars, a CubeSat can be built for around a hundred thousand dollars, and launched for much the same, depending on the complexity of the mission. </p>
<p>For this reason, CubeSats were initially used to train students for the aerospace industry. But now these small spacecraft can even be used to <a href="http://www.space.aau.dk/aausat3/">track and trace vessels at sea</a>, or aircraft. </p>
<p>Being low cost, multiple nano-satellites can be launched into low Earth orbit. The satellites in these <em>constellations</em> pass over a specific geographic area more frequently than single, big-satellite missions. </p>
<p>This makes it possible for nano-satellites to be used for rapid responses to disasters, or to gather timely information relating to tele-medicine, environmental management and asset tracking. They will soon even <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/staehle_interplanetary_cubesats.html">reach to other planets</a>.</p>
<p>With so many satellites big and small in orbit there is the possibility (still extremely small) of collision with pieces of used rockets and defunct satellites floating about. But even tiny pieces of <em>space debris</em> are <a href="http://www.spaceviewnetwork.com/what-ssa/">tracked with radar</a> and potential collisions can be predicted and avoided with appropriate technologies.</p>
<p>This has inspired cutting edge research and innovation, for example, to make sure nano-satellites _de-orbit _(return to the atmosphere and burn out) when they reach the end of their lives. </p>
<p>Combined with evolving national and international <a href="http://www.sacsa.org.za">regulatory frameworks</a>, future generations will continue to benefit from this resource.</p>
<h2>Africa’s first cool cube</h2>
<p>On 21 November 2013, South Africa made history by becoming the first African country to launch its own CubeSat <a href="http://www.sansa.org.za/news/458-successful-launch-of-tshepo-sat">TshepisoSAT</a> into space. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81474/original/image-20150512-25060-wwylix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81474/original/image-20150512-25060-wwylix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81474/original/image-20150512-25060-wwylix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81474/original/image-20150512-25060-wwylix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81474/original/image-20150512-25060-wwylix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81474/original/image-20150512-25060-wwylix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81474/original/image-20150512-25060-wwylix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">TshepisoSAT being loaded into its ‘pod’ before launch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CPUT</span></span>
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<p>The satellite was developed by students and staff from the <a href="http://www.cput.ac.za/fsati">French South African Institute of Technology at CPUT</a> with funding from the <a href="http://www.dst.gov.za">Department of Science and Technology</a> and the <a href="http://nrf.ac.za">National Research Foundation</a>. </p>
<p>TshepisoSAT was the first in a series of CubeSats that will study the ionosphere above Africa in collaboration with scientists of the <a href="http://www.sansa.org.za/spacescience">South African National Space Agency</a>, and others on the continent.</p>
<p>The university has also pioneered the <a href="http://www.spaceref.com/calendar/calendar.html?pid=8484">International African CubeSat Workshop series</a>, a growing networking forum for colleagues on the continent. The partnership between academia, government and industry together with adopting CubeSats for a hands-on learning experience provide a blueprint for creating similar nodes elsewhere in Africa.</p>
<h2>Challenges facing Africa’s space vision</h2>
<p>Nano-satellites support the <a href="http://agenda2063.au.int">African Union’s</a> science and technology ambitions which it believes could reap massive benefits for the continent. </p>
<p>The African Union Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa - 2024 <a href="http://hrst.au.int/en/sites/default/files/STISA-Published%20Book.pdf">(STISA-2024)</a> has six priorities, at the heart of which is the pursuit of space-based applications supported by an indigenous satellite industry. The priorities include putting an end to hunger, bringing about food security and preventing and controlling diseases.</p>
<p>But establishing a sustainable African space industry faces a number of challenges, notably that of funding. Furthermore, young people are generally not rushing to take up careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. </p>
<p>Capacity building for the space industry is constrained by the high cost of traditional satellites and supporting infrastructure compared to other technologies. </p>
<p>CubeSats are, however, winning over the youth to the space sector. From being cheaper to build and launched to space, they provide a cost-effective platform for training and research, especially for countries where heavy investment in a space industry has to be weighed against more immediate needs such as health and welfare.</p>
<p>Combining the vibrant ingenuity and creativity of this generation with an equally ingenious and cool space technology can no doubt have a profoundly positive socio-economic impact on Africa.</p>
<h2>Democratising space</h2>
<p>Africa is steadily moving towards a coherent space programme and nano-satellites should be part of this broader strategy. Pan-African constellations of nano-satellites can be developed in partnerships with existing communities of excellence in science, engineering and mathematics on the continent.</p>
<p>By ensuring that Africa produces its own engineers and scientists, and by playing our part on the global stage, the continent will have taken another step towards the democratisation of space for its people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41621/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert van Zyl does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nano-satellites are small and cool enough to inspire youth to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.Robert van Zyl, Director, Satellite Systems Engineering, Cape Peninsula University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/266772014-07-08T12:49:18Z2014-07-08T12:49:18ZAlmost anyone can hitchhike into space with a nanosatellite<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/53289/original/vtq7hx89-1404813043.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C48%2C1920%2C1089&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Not bigger than a loaf of bread.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">UKSA</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Earlier this year, the Russian Federal Space Agency received a hand-luggage-sized delivery from the UK. It came with a request to launch the contents aboard a rocket, along with the Russian three-tonne meteorological satellite. The tiny British package was successfully launched into space on July 8, and it contains a nanosatellite called UKube-1.</p>
<p>The CubeSat was devised by two US academics in 1999. Initially developed as a way for university students to experience all the elements of a space mission from design and development through to operations in space, CubeSats have quickly become a technology that allows anyone to gain low-cost access to space. More than 200 CubeSats, from more than 20 different nations, <a href="http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1403/08cubesats/">have been launched since</a>. They have performed myriad missions including technology demonstration, atmospheric, biological and climatology research, earth observation and education.</p>
<p>The basic 10×10×10cm CubeSat is called a “one unit” or 1U CubeSat. The first CubeSat hosted simple-radio communication payloads providing capabilities similar to the 1960s Sputnik. But they are are scalable and over the past ten years the numbers of 2U (20x10x10cm) and 3U (30x10x10cm) Cubesats have been steadily increasing allowing for more complex missions to be devised.</p>
<h2>Launching on the cheap</h2>
<p>The cost is kept low through the use of off-the-shelf technologies, which are typically used in making smartphones and aircrafts. The satellite is made up of electrical circuit boards surrounded by solar panels that provide power to the spacecraft when in orbit. This means a basic non-flight educational spacecraft will cost around £5,000.</p>
<p>The launch costs of CubeSats are minimised by launching them with much larger satellites. Often many CubeSats are launched from the same vehicle. </p>
<p>These tiny satellites are placed in a sealed, spring-loaded box, called a P-POD. Once the launcher has safely delivered its main satellite to its desired orbit, the P-POD door opens and the spring pushes the CubeSat out into space. Adhering to the CubeSat standard and using the P-POD helps make their launch significantly less risky for the main satellite. CubeSats can also be launched from the International Space Station (ISS) by the astronauts living there.</p>
<p>UKube-1 will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan onboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. Along with the Russian weather satellite, a small American imaging satellite and another UK technology demonstration satellite, TDS-1. About three hours after launch, UKube-1 will be released to begin its one-year mission.</p>
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<p>Onboard the nanonsatellite are payloads from the Open University that will help study the effects of space radiation; from Airbus Space and Defence that will test whether space radiation can be used to encrypt communications signals; from the University of Bath that will be using GPS signals to study the upper layers of the atmosphere, and from AMSAT-UK, an amateur satellites organisation, that has a radio transponder, which can be accessed by schools and radio amateurs to learn about radio communications and space missions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26677/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ross Burgon receives funding from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). He is affiliated with the UK Cubesat Forum.</span></em></p>Earlier this year, the Russian Federal Space Agency received a hand-luggage-sized delivery from the UK. It came with a request to launch the contents aboard a rocket, along with the Russian three-tonne…Ross Burgon, Research Fellow, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.