Distributed Satellite Constellations for Situational Awareness

Changing the economics of space

Distributed Satellite Constellations for Situational Awareness

High Tech Small Sat Missions Conference

Rome, May 2011

Owen Hawkins

All Satellites Are Getting Smaller

If yours aren’t, you have a problem

Our customer’s expectations however, continue to grow!

Changing the Economics of Space

•Rapid-response, small-satellites•Advanced terrestrial technology•Vertical integration for speed•Fast design cycles – Trade-off•30 years of experience

200 Years of On-Orbit Experience

34 missions completed – 8 new satellites under contract

Operational Assets, not Research and Development Assets

Major Projects

TopSat 2005, 2.8m, 1 year planned 5 years ops, in theatre transmission

Disaster Monitoring Constellation 2003-ongoing8 satellites, 22m daily revisit

Rapideye 2007, 5 satellites, 5m daily revisit, 7 years

NigeriaSat-2 2011, 2.5m, Highly Agile, 7 years

GIOVE-A 2005, the 1st satellite of GALILEO

GALILEO, 14 payloads for GALILEO

Collaborative Satellite Constellation

Shared Launch

Constellation Operation

Regular Information

In Manufacture –Commercially Owned by DMCii, Launch 2013

3 optical surveillance satellites

– 1m GSD

– Advanced modes– High accuracy geolocation

– Ground station and support

Cost: System <£100MNew Partners – ¼ of 4?

Low-Elevation Mode Imaging

Novel Collection Modes

Highly Agile Single Scene Imaging Extended Strip Imaging

In-pass Stereo Mode Imaging

Area Mode Imaging

12

Super-Resolution Mode Imaging

Strip 1

Strip 2

Strip 3

Strip 4

Manoeuvre time

Manoeuvre time

Manoeuvre time

Line of CommunicationMode Imaging

• High agility for responsive modes

Change DetectionMode Imaging

In-theatre Control Mode Imaging

NOVASAR-UK

• High resolution spotlight mode

6m

• Wide area modes

20m

• Multi-polarimetric imagery

• Cost <£50m

Multi-mode S-band SAR satellite

Conclusions

• Small satellites have advanced beyond being simply “militarily relevant”, they are a critical aspect of the infrastructure

• Small satellites now offer innovative applications that surpass what is possible with traditional systems– Constellations, agility & rapid development create new

opportunities

• Most crucially, in the current climate, they can offer military greater value for money, via improved utilisation of existing assets

Changing the economics of space

Thank You