What Goes Around, Comes Around: New Solutions to Old Problems

摘要

For decades, clever people in and around the space industry have been dreaming up ways of using space for commercial or scientific gain. However, in many cases the ideas, though valid, were not economically or technologically feasible. Arthur C. Clarke dreamt up the concept for geostationary satellites long before there was even a means to get satellites into space, and many more ideas have came and went in the period in between never to manifest themselves as real missions.This paper will explore proposed mission concepts that were before their time and will assess their relevance to today's technology and capability. In addition, it will assess the suitability of today's technology to enable old problems to be solved. In particular, the paper will use the CubeSat platform as an example of a very low-cost means of launching multiple spacecraft into orbit to meet specific application needs. The paper will also assess the use of today's small satellite technology to service the gap in the long existing need for data for the purposes of science, communication and prediction/warning of natural disasters. Finally, conclusions will be drawn as to the impact that small and miniature spacecraft can have on the future commercial, science and data driven space mission of the next 10 years and what the author considers to be the most relevant barriers and opportunities to the growth of small satellite success in these areas.