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Small could be the next big thing in satellite tech
It happened with our desktop computers shrinking into laptops and palm-sized gadgets and our mobile phones getting tinier. In the satellite industry too, ‘small’ could be the next big thing in the coming years.
A small satellite can equally suit communications, earth observation or surveillance, disaster monitoring or scientific experiments — the jobs that its bigger cousins do. It would weigh a few hundred kilos versus the 2-to-10-tonne giants that circle the earth today.
‘Smallsats’ cost less, weigh less, can be built fast and launched quickly in multiples and pack in just as much punch, according to Mr D.V.A. Raghav Murthy, ISRO’s Project Director for Small Satellites.
“They can achieve 90 per cent of what big satellites can at five per cent of the cost and do 17 per cent of their tasks at one per cent of the cost,” Mr Koteswara Rao, Director, Laboratory for Electro-Optics Systems at ISRO, corroborated.
A growing number of Governments, companies and user industries built around them are apparently warming up to their charms.
If India has had its IMS-1 and the upcoming IMS-2, both carrying the latest technologies in earth observation, Russia, the US and Israel are known to have small, short-life military spy satellites that can be quickly put into orbit.
Classed as nano or piko; micro (up to 100 kg) or mini (up to 500 kg), or the 10-cm ‘cubesats’, small sats cost under Rs 1 crore in India compared to Rs 200-300 crore for larger 2-tonne class satellites, Mr Murthy said at a session on small satellites at the Bengaluru Space Expo here.
Universities are eyeing smallsats as good educational tools for engineering students. ISRO, which recently launched StudSat, one such student satellite by Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh engineering students, has got inquiries from 22 institutions/universities and is trying to tell them to team up rather than each have a satellite.
IIT-Kanpur’s Jugnu and IIT-Bombay’s Pratham are in the pipeline, while Anna University’s Anusat was the first such Indian student satellite to go into orbit.
ISRO has launched many small satellites mainly for experimental purposes such as remote sensing, atmospheric studies, payload development, orbit control and recovery technology.
Dr Susmita Mohanty, Mumbai-based founder and CEO of space start-up Earth2Orbit India Pvt Ltd, said nano and small satellites for various purposes were showing a growth rate of at least 30 per cent a year led by the US and there would be 415 satellites in a near-earth orbit by 2014.
Earth2Orbit, which is an informal overseas marketing associate for ISRO’s earth imageries, also wants to bring in small satellites to be launched on the PSLV, which is emerging as a favourite in this band, she said. The smallsat launch business was pegged at $160 billion a year and the Indian workhorse launcher, she said, should capture at least 20 per cent of this business. Businesses are building around small sats. SSTL or Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, the dedicated smallsat company now owned by Europe’s spacecraft major EADS Astrium, is building a small 200-kg spacecraft for Kazakhstan to support land mapping and resource management and planning. Launch majors such as Space X are eyeing these opportunities.
Arianespace Preps A Six Pack And Marks A Milestone
Every launch is important, but how about sending a half a dozen up, simultaneously ?
That’s just what is occurring as preparations are underway for a milestone Soyuz flight during which Arianespace is to orbit the first six Globalstar second-generation communications satellites from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in October.
The launch campaign for this mission began on August 11 with arrival of its initial three Globalstar satellites at the Cosmodrome, and has progressed as these spacecraft undergo their checkout in clean rooms that are dedicated to commercial Soyuz missions.
All three of the second-generation Globalstar spacecraft began their preparations in the Cosmodrome’s Payload Processing Facility, which included electrical testing and radio frequency verifications. The first of them was transferred to the Hazardous Processing Facility for the loading of its propellant today, which will be followed by this satellite’s integration on a conical-shaped dispenser system that ultimately will carry all six of the mission’s payloads.
Arianespace has been contracted to perform four Soyuz launches carrying six satellites each, further building Globalstar’s constellation with these 24 second-generation spacecraft. Their deployment will secure the company’s space segment beyond 2025, ensuring continuity for its mobile satellite voice and data services that are provided to businesses, governments and consumers.
The second-generation Globalstar satellites will have a liftoff mass of approximately 700 kg. each, and are fitted with 16 transponders from C- to S-band, along with 16 receivers from L- to C-band.
Arianespace’s Globalstar missions will use the Soyuz 2 ST evolved version of Russia’s venerable medium-lift workhorse launcher, which incorporates the enlarged ST payload fairing and an updated digital flight control system. The Soyuz 2 ST is the same vehicle that Arianespace will utilize at the Spaceport in French Guiana, operating side-by-side with its heavyweight Ariane 5.
For the upcoming Soyuz 2 ST launches, the six Globalstar spacecraft, built by Thales Alenia Space, will be stacked in two levels on the conical-shaped dispenser. Once loaded with the satellites, this EADS Astrium-produced dispenser is to be mated atop the Fregat upper stage, which will make three burns after it is delivered to low-Earth orbit by the Soyuz launcher. The trio of burns will enable Fregat to inject the satellite payloads into a 920-km. circular orbit, inclined 52 deg.
The dispenser is designed to accommodate two of the six satellites on its upper section, with their release occurring at 98.6 minutes into the flight. The other four payloads are to be installed on the dispenser’s lower section and will be separated simultaneously 1.67 minutes later, completing the mission’s deployment sequence.
Soyuz launchers have played a key role in the creation of Globalstar’s satellite constellation. Earlier Soyuz versions were used in eight missions conducted from 1999 to 2007 to orbit a total of 32 first-generation Globalstar spacecraft. These flights were performed under the direction of Arianespace’s Starsem affiliate, with each mission carrying four of the 450-kg. first-generation satellites.
Inmarsat to Demonstrate Space-Based BGAN Terminal
Inmarsat Navigation Ventures, Ltd. in London, England recently received an $18 million firm-fixed-price demonstration contract to develop and certify a transceiver terminal for their 3-satellite Inmarsat (BGAN) service. The terminals must be capable of operation from on-board low Earth orbit satellites, and the BGAN network will require modifications to support space-based terminal equipment. Under the contract, Immarsat will support the integration of the space-based BGAN terminal with a government demonstration satellite, and support the on-orbit connectivity via the BGAN network for the demonstration satellite mission.
Work is to be performed in London, England (20.60%); Golden, CO (64.76%); Aylesbury, England (11%); Norresundby, Denmark (2.15%); and Ontario, Canada (1.49%), with an estimated completion date of Sept 13/15. One bid was solicited with one bid received by DARPA in Arlington, VA (HR0011-10-C-0149).
Inmarsat currently operates a fleet of 11 satellites, and their customers include governments and the military. In November 2009they bought managed secureIP provider Segovia, whose clients include the US military. The I-4 constellation is based on EADS Astrium’s Eurostar E3000 bus, but in August 2010, Immarsat announced a $1.2 billion contract with Boeing for 3 702HP-based satellites, in order to field a more advanced I-5 constellation delivering up to 6.25MB/s (50 megabits) each.