Small Satellites are now being developed by many organisations. These are now a mature technology and have demonstrated their potential as a product with complementary performances to more conventional mission solutions. Recent successes with the PROBA 1 (with more than 5 years of operations in orbit) and the UK's Topsat spacecraft show the potential to use these platforms in a flexible and low-cost ways for Earth Observation missions. ESA 's Earth Observation Directorate uses PROBA 1 on a daily basis in support of research related to vegetation, disaster monitoring, land use, volcano observations, etc. Topsat supports a number of users with up to date imagery and has demonstrated several new approaches to data downlink & distribution. With continued advances in technology, new areas in Earth observation are being explored and applications like high resolution-, hyper spectral- and small SAR radar missions become feasible with a PROBA scale platform and its derivatives. As small satellite missions become more ambitious, so the space industry is adapting to the challenge of creating organisations which can deliver the advantages of small satellite technology while retaining compatibility with international data standards and operating practices.. The merging of Verhaert Space and QinetiQ's Space Division is a first step in the creation of a solid mid-tier player dedicated to small mission solutions, combining complementary skills in mission design, system integration and key areas of technology development to offer end-to-end solutions to customers worldwide. This paper will outline high-performance solutions for future Earth observation missions, highlighting the role that cutting-edge technologies have to delivering unique capability to meet customer needs.
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