Enabling Technologies for Distributed Picosatellite Missions in LEO

Abstract

Picosatellites are very small satellites with a mass of less than 1 kg. A number of picosatellite projects have been undertaken by University and government research teams. Constellations of picosatellites could prove to be a low-cost and efficient solution to remote sensing in LEO. Reconfiguration and adaptation are capabilities, which are of critical importance to such constellations. A conceptual model of a constellation consisting of heterogeneous picosatellite nodes with a payload function distributed among the nodes will be outlined. Enabling technologies for picosatellite constellations such as wireless intersatellite links, reconfigurable onboard computing and distributed processing will be discussed. A proposal for a test-bed to demonstrate a reconfigurable distributed computing platform will be outlined