constellation of smallsats—perhaps for no more than the cost of a single large satellite—that is large enough to dedicate individual devices to meet the needs of specific units. In communications, a major use will be to enable point-to-point communications between units engaged in fast-moving field operations, especially in rugged conditions where line-of-sight connections are rare. “Other uses could be store-and-forward communications and being able to support mission areas such as data exfill/infill, where you may be storing signals when you are over an area of interest and then downloading that data later to a tactical user,” Gardner noted. Another potential use with particular applicability to special operations could be to support tagging, tracking and locating suspected adversaries. “In terms of ISR, tactical users have traditionally had to request the data that they are interested in through national technical means, which could mean waiting for days for the data. But dedicated smallsats allow the tactical user to request an image 15 miles away and get a response in near real time, so they would know what sort of enemy territory they were walking into,” Gardner explained. Still, even the strongest advocates of smallsats acknowledge the tradeoffs, particularly in the area of image resolution. The advantage of big, expensive satellites is that they have large apertures and can capture very high-resolution images, while a smallsat can only accommodate a smaller camera. “So you’ll get more of a mediumresolution image, which is probably fine for most needs, but definitely not all,” he added. Another disadvantage concerns persistent coverage. “Smallsats traditionally operate in a low-Earth orbit, which means they are only going to be overhead for 15-20 minutes at a time,” Gardner noted. “That means only 90 minutes to 2 hours every day, so the rest of the time you are out of view. You can overcome those disadvantages, however. In terms of persistence, a constellation of smallsats solves that problem, because if you have a dozen or two dozen satellites that you are communicating with, one will be overhead at any point in time.” In addition, the whole idea of tactically-responsive smallsats depends on the ability to get the devices into orbit on short notice, which in turn requires a fleet of small, on-demand launch vehicles. “Without dedicated launch systems, small satellites must wait for a ride on a larger launch vehicle, which may be months to years away from launch and may place the small satellite in a sub-optimal orbit,” said Zitz. A number of initiatives are underway, including those developed by SpaceX and the European Vega project, to provide faster and cheaper launch capabilities. Another challenge involves ensuring that smallsats fit into users’ enterprise architectures in order to avoid stovepiped data feeds that are not interoperable and therefore not useful to as many users, Zitz said. “To address this, the future of ground systems is changing, with open systems architectures and service-oriented architecture systems becoming the next generation. One key in disaggregation and use of small satellites will be the ability to share data from a variety of space systems into various ground systems architectures.”
Ground Control The paradox of smallsats for tactical operations is that while small units stand to gain the most, they are also less likely to include www.MIT-kmi.com
QuantumCMD’s web interface is designed to allow non-technical and tactical users to easily get the data they need and task the satellite to support their mission needs. [Image courtesy of Kratos]
a satellite specialist or have the ability to transport heavy ground equipment to take full advantage of the benefits. “One of the biggest challenges we saw in operationalizing smallsats to the tactical user was in being able to create a CONOPS that allowed the user to reap all of the advantages of the technology. Some of the major challenges included tasking: How does the tactical user not have to be a satellite operator, and instead simply focus their time on what they need to do in the field? So simplified or automated tasking was one of the major areas that we tried to put a lot of development into,” said Gardner. “Another challenge to operationalizing smallsats is the housekeeping tasks that all satellites have,” he said. “If you have an issue on the satellite and need to make adjustments to reaction wheels, solar arrays or power subsystems, the tactical user isn’t the one to do that. So that needs to be automated, and to happen behind the scenes.” In response to those needs, Kratos earlier this year released quantumCMD, which consolidates telemetry, tracking and command functions in a single off-the-shelf product. QuantumCMD includes all needed hardware and software for small satellite operations, with features such as complete automation capabilities that support a dynamic CONOPS or even fully-automated “lights out” operations if desired. Additionally, the built-in HTML5-based Web server and browser-based interface enable anywhere access and operations. “The backend is based on the command and control systems we have built for big satellites. It takes the same core technology, but pulls out the requirements for telemetry display, sending commands and automating, and integrates those into a single software solution that can be deployed easily to a smallsat user, whether for tactical or strategic use,” Gardner said. QuantumCMD is already being used by a company called Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, which purchased quantumCMD to perform C2 functions for its two Endeavor product line nano-satellites launched as part of NASA’s CubeSat Proximity Operations Demonstration (CPOD) mission. The CPOD mission will demonstrate the ability of two small nano-satellites to remain at determined points relative to each other, as well as precision circumnavigation and docking using imaging sensors and a multi-thruster cold gas propulsion system. O For more information, contact MIT Editor Harrison Donnelly at harrisond@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.mit-kmi.com.
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