KEY CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIESAFTER A 20 YEAR HISTORY OF PROMOTING SMALL SATELLITES

摘要

In the beginning, all satellites were small – not bychoice, but by necessity. In their modern reincarnation,a worldwide community of innovators has chosen toleverage the technological advances in electronics, materials,and sensors to create satellites that are physicallysmaller, technically simpler, and much more affordableto acquire, launch and operate. While initial 'smallsats'of the '80's and '90s have significantly underperformedin comparison to the "Battlestar Galacticas" of the sameperiod, they have steadily advanced in capability withan ever improving performance-to-price ratio. Whatchallenges have small satellite pioneers faced over thepast two decades? What mission opportunities havebeen enabled by small satellites? And, where are smallsatellites headed in the coming 20 years? This welcomingpaper will provide a retrospective snapshot of the20th Annual American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics& Utah State University Conference on SmallSatellites, and suggest some future directions for smallsatellite missions.