Paper Category: Satellite Manufacturing
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Semi-Autonomous Reconnaissance Satellite: A Laboratory Demonstration of End-to-End On-Board Mission Autonomy
Real-time satellite responsiveness to user requests from the field remains largely unavailable in current space systems. Such capabilities are typically restricted to low-altitude airborne platforms, primarily due to limited satellite communication bandwidth, intermittent ground contact, and the reliance on ground-based mission planning. Enabling true responsiveness requires a paradigm shift toward highly autonomous satellites, in which…
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Optimisation of star tracker orientation and attitude trajectories for space-to-ground optical communication on CubeSats
Optical communication systems promise a step-change in data return capability for CubeSats but introduce exceptionally demanding pointing requirements. In some cases, sub-milliradian level pointing of the satellite is required to successfully acquire a laser signal from the ground. This is further complicated by the relatively high angular velocities and angular accelerations of the satellite-to-ground target…
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Scaling Heat Rejection for High-Capability SmallSats: From Conduction to Deployable Two-Phase Radiators
The rapid growth of the SmallSat market has been driven by increased launch access and miniaturization and commercialization of spacecraft grade electronics, leading to steadily increasing onboard power and thus heat dissipation. As SmallSats evolve toward higher capability payloads, thermal control systems must reject greater heat loads while meeting aggressive Size, Weight, Power, and Cost…
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High-Agile Spacecraft with Flexible Appendages: Limits, Risks, and Mitigation
Modern Earth-observation missions increasingly rely on high-agility retargeting to maximise target acquisitions. At the same time, new-generation spacecraft are adopting larger, lightweight, and lightly damped appendages such as high-power solar arrays and deployable SAR antennas, which introduce low-frequency flexible dynamics and tighter slew-and-settle constraints. The combined trend raises a central question for mission design: how…
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Rocket Lab’s Enabling Capabilities for Affordable Science Missions
As global priorities shift toward sovereign rapid-response space systems, Rocket Lab addresses the barriers of high cost and long lead times through vertical integration. By controlling the mission lifecycle from launch via Electron and Neutron to in-house satellite manufacturing, Rocket Lab enables partners to move from concept to orbit with unprecedented agility. While Rocket Lab…
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Modular, Serviceable and Demisable Small Satellites: Engineering a Resilient European Space Defence Architecture
Europe’s defence, security, and critical-infrastructure missions are becoming increasingly dependent on small satellite constellations for communications, ISR, navigation resilience and environmental awareness. Yet most small satellites are still engineered as disposable assets, creating strategic fragility, rising replacement costs, and growing orbital sustainability risks. This paper presents a new engineering doctrine for small satellites based on…
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From Structure to System: Multifunctional 3D-Printed Satellite Architectures
Additive manufacturing offers significant potential for the development of highly integrated and cost-effective satellite structures. This research aims to evaluate the viability of monolithic 3D-printed satellite structures for space applications, with a focus on integrating mechanical supports, electrical routing, and electronic functionalities directly into the primary structure. By leveraging the monolithic nature of additive manufacturing,…
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The Final Barrier to High-Performance Computing in Space: Architectures for Mitigating Catastrophic Radiation Effects
The increasing ambition of commercial and institutional space missions is driving demand for onboard computing capabilities far beyond traditional spacecraft avionics. Applications such as orbital data centers, large satellite constellations, autonomous mission operations, and real time data processing increasingly depend on high performance GPUs, advanced processors, high density solid state storage, and complex commercial electronic…