Small Satellites and Their Challenges to Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Space Traffic Management (STM)

Abstract

Small satellites have actually been flown since the beginning of the space age; Sputnik and Vanguard were only tens of centimeters in diameter. For many years however, the trend was to make larger, more powerful, and more complex satellites. Launch vehicles became more capable, able to place in orbit these larger satellites. Recently, thanks to miniaturization of electronics and standardization of sizes, there has been a resurgence in smaller, less expensive (and often less capable) satellites. Rideshare-like services coordinate among small satellites to allow many to share a launch vehicle. Rather than one rocket launching one or a few satellites, many scores are now being launched at once. Space is now more affordable and accessible than it has ever been, but how this new crowded space environment is managed has not kept up with the changes in technology and activity. Efforts to enable space traffic management (STM) are under discussion, and hopefully under way soon, but challenges remain. Such challenges include basic ones to space situational awareness (SSA), such as small satellites being hard to detect, track, identify, and characterize. Existing SSA systems have a hard time keeping up with their smaller sizes and increasing numbers. Often small satellites are not as capable as larger, more expensive system and may lack propulsion, system redundancies, and other safety features, which can be problematic for maintaining a safe near-space environment. As the barriers to entry have lowered, new actors in the space arena have emerged, often without the hard-learned experiences of legacy space actors. Additionally, some “New Space” entrants bring with them a Silicon Valley mindset of “fail fast and break things.” This philosophy is perhaps thought incongruent to the long-term sustainability of outer space. These challenges to the status quo may be resolved through better definition of the governance regime and furtherance of regulations, guidelines, and best practices for STM, by improved technologies (including processing techniques) for SSA, and via education, outreach, and discussion with new entrants in the space regime.