Small Satellite Market Intelligence Report Provides an Update of the Small Satellites Launched in Q2 2021 (1St April to 30Th June 2021)

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MARKET 2021 INTELLIGENCE REPORT

This issue of the Satellite Applications Q2 Catapult’s quarterly Small Satellite Market Intelligence report provides an update of the small satellites launched in Q2 2021 (1st April to 30th June 2021). This edition also includes a short article on the applications, benefits, and challenges to satellite operations in very low Earth orbit (VLEO). 2021 LAUNCHED INQ2 SMALL SATELLITES followed byalevelling off) represents ageneral trend and notaprediction peryear. Note: Themathematical modellineinthegraphabove (simulatinganaccelerating small satellitemarketuptake constellation. Bharti Global, which will allow the space start-up to accelerate their efforts in finishing their 648-satellite from million $500 and Eutelsat, from million $550 of quarter this investments of the announced OneWeb Q1 104. of in tally 2020 launched the surpassing number 108, to the this 2021 in double launched satellites satellite and total their date, brought This 72 year. to this history launched their in They quarter any constellation. of their most the building quarter, in operations continued also OneWeb show nosignsofslowingdownevenastheirconstellationnetworknearsfirstphasecompletion. satellites Starlink SpaceX as 2020, in 853 launched satellites Starlink 833 the the surpass already Q2) Interestingly, and (Q1 2021 in program. launched test beta their expand to continue they as 1808 to the satellites launched into orbit this quarter. This brings the total number of Starlink satellites launched SpaceX contributed to the majority of small satellites launched once again, accounting for 64% (363) of for numberofsmallsatelliteslaunched,withhalftheyearstilltogo. number of small satellites launched in 2021 to 1321, meaning that it has already broken the yearly total the record brings This satellites. 200 over by quarter highest next the beating comfortably, place second all-time record, set in the first quarter of this year, which still stands at 757. However, this quarter takes In thesecondquarterof2021,therewere564smallsatelliteslaunchedintoorbit.Thisfallsshort OVERVIEW Number ofSmallSatellitesLaunched

02 • • • Applications aredefinedbytheprimaryobjectiveofmissionascategorisedbelow: APPLICATIONS to theEarthoritsatmosphere. Earth observation/Remote sensing: physical phenomenaortotestthefunctionalityofpayloadequipment. Technology/Scientific: or gateway. Communications: Percentage ShareofSmallSatellitesbyApplication the objective of the mission is to transmit or receive signals to/from a user terminal user a to/from signals receive or transmit to is mission the of objective the Small SatellitesLaunchedbyApplication h ojcie f h msin s o ahr nweg t bte understand better to knowledge gather to is mission the of objective the the objective of the mission is to provide imagery or data relating

03 orbit, respectively.TheremainingsatelliteswerefromFleetSpaceTechnologies,GuodianGaoke, quarter werefromSpaceX,OneWebandSwarmTechnologieswhosent363,7236satellitesinto satellites totheirconstellationnetworks.Around97%ofthecommunicationlaunchedthis were communicationsatellites.Thevastmajorityoftheseattributedtocompaniesaddingmore satellites launchedthisquarter.Ofthe564smalllaunched,around86%(484)ofthese Continuing withthetrendofrecentyears,communicationssatellitesaccountedformostsmall Communications Manchester toinvestigateatmosphericinteractionswith spacecraftinverylowEarthorbit(VLEO). were 5satellitesfromacademicinstitutionswithinthis category,includingamissionfromtheUniversityof technology satelliteswerefromtheRoyalNetherlandsAirforceandMauritiusResearchCouncil.There Office (NRO)satellites,whoseexactapplicationandorbitwereclassified.Theremaining2government vast majorityofthese(13)werefromAmericanorganisations,including3NationalReconnaissance Scientific smallsatellitesat20.Governmententitieslaunched15inthiscategory,the launched between1and3satellites.CommercialcompaniesaccountedforhalfoftheTechnology/ Observation/Remote Sensingcategoryat40.Thesewerespreadacross32differententitieswhoeach The numberofsatelliteslaunchedintheTechnology/ScientificcategoryequalledthatEarth Technology/Scientific Space SystemsLaboratoryandtheRoyalThaiAirforceaddedasinglesatelliteeachtooveralltotal. HawkEye 360,PlanetiQ,SatRevolutionandUmbraLabalsohadlaunchesinthesingledigits,whileMIT make theirmarkontheNewSpaceindustry.CommercialEarthobservationcompaniesCapellaSpace, launched byChinesegovernmentalandacademicinstitutionsinthiscategory,astheycontinueto Space andArgentinianSatellogicalsoadded4satellitestotheirconstellations.Therewere9 announcement ofopeninganofficeinJapantoservetheJapanesemarket.Luxembourgstart-upKleos constellation, launching4SyntheticApertureRadar(SAR)smallsatellitesthisquarter,alongwithan by Spire(8)aspartoftheirLemurconstellation.Finnishstart-upICEYEcontinuedtoadd dominating playersinthisgroup,withthelargestnumberofsatellitescategorybeinglaunched There were40EarthObservation/RemoteSensingsmallsatelliteslaunchedinQ2.no Earth Observation OneWebs foroneofthetopspotsincommunicationsmallsatellitelaunches. If theyscaletheiroperationsasintended,thenwemayseeanewplayerchallengingtheSpaceXsand who isplanningaseveralthousandsatelliteconstellationtoprovidecellularcoverageformobilephones. NanoAvionics, Eutelsat,EchostarGlobal,AstrocastandLynkGlobal.Ofnoteinthislistis

04 SIZE ANDMASS satellite engineers. country ofKuwait’s firstsatellite,developed byOrbitalSpaceto empower thenextgeneration ofKuwaiti on theRepublicofMauritius fromspace,thecountry’sfirstsatellite.Theremaining pico-satellitewasthe two pico-satelliteswaslaunched bytheMauritiusResearchCouncil(MRC)tocollect landandoceandata satellites outofaplanned 150, whichisontracktobecompletedbytheendof 2021.Oneoftheother SpaceBEE satellitestotheir InternetofThings(IoT)constellation.Theyhavenow launched127pico- Of the38pico-satelliteslaunched thisquarter,36werefromSwarmTechnologies astheyaddmore this categorywerespreadevenlyacross17different entities. into orbitaspartoftheirglobalL-bandmachine-to-machine (MTM)service.Therestofthesatellitesin add totheirLemurEarthobservationconstellation.Swiss companyAstrocastlaunched5nano-satellites There were32nano-satelliteslaunchedinQ2.Aquarter ofthese(8)werefromSpire,whocontinueto different entitieslaunchingbetween1-4satelliteseach. satellites launched.Noorganisationdominatedthis particular segmentofthemasscategories,with32 Micro-satellites werethenextmostpopularplatform ofchoiceforthesecondquarter2021,with49 remaining mini-satelliteslaunchedthisyear. for ScienceandTechnology(CAST)AerospaceDongfanghongSatelliteareresponsiblethe as theUSSpaceForce,DARPAandNRO,wellChineseentitesincludingChinaAssociation mini-satellites with363and72launchedthisquarter,respectively.Americangovernmententitiessuch small satelliteslaunchedfallingwithinthismassrange.SpaceXandOneWebaccountedfor98%ofthe The recenttrendofmini-satellitesdominatingthemasscategoriescontinuesinQ2,with445564 Small Satellite<500kg Satellite classification Small SatellitesLaunchedbyMassCategory Pico-satellite Nano-satellite Micro-satellite Mini-satellite Satellitesubclassification 0.1 kg–1 1 kg–10 10 kg–100 100 kg-500 Associatedwetmassrange

05 ORGANISATION of theyearleft. small satelliteslaunchedby academicorganisationsisstillyettobebroken,there areanother6months launched in2021byacademic entitiesto64,almostdoublethe2020total.While the2018recordof87 academic satellite,andtheUSlaunching2thisquarter. Thisbringsthetotalnumberofsmallsatellites countries, withacademicinstitutionsfromChina,Germany, MexicoandtheUKlaunchingasingle is dramaticallylessthanthe58launchedinQ1ofthis year.Therewasafairlyevenspreadamong There wereonly6smallsatelliteslaunchedthisquarter thatfallundertheacademiccategory,which skyrocket tonumbersneverseenbefore. project likethiswouldseegovernmentfigures a nationalnetworksatelliteinternetproject.A 13,000-satellite mega-constellation,aspartof by Chinathattheyaredevelopingplansfora Q2. Ofnotethisquarterwasanannouncement Mauritius eachhadonesatellitelaunchedin launched. TheNetherlands,Thailandand this quarter,with3earthobservationplatforms in secondtermsofgovernmentsatellites by NASAAmesResearchCentre.Chinacame Defence Agency,orforsciencemissionsled United StatesArmedForcesandtheMissile technology demonstrationsforDARPA,NRO, organisations oftheUnitedStatesaspart of these(13)canbeattributedtogovernment government entitiesthisquarter.Themajority There were19smallsatelliteslaunchedby these figures. constellation ambitions(e.g.LynkGlobal)itislikelythatcommercialcompanieswillcontinuetodominate OneWeb continuingtoaddmoresatellitestheirconstellations,aswellnewentrantswithmega- and SwarmTechnologies,with363,7236smallsatelliteslaunched,respectively.WithSpaceX up. Thevastmajority(87%)ofcommercialsmallsatellitesinQ2canbeattributedtoSpaceX,OneWeb launched thisquarter.Thisisatrendthathasbeenoccurringsince2013andshowsnosignsofletting Small satelliteslaunchedbycommercialcompaniesaccountedforroughly96%(539)ofthetotal Small SatellitesLaunchedbyOrganisation Small SatellitesLaunchedbyOrganisation-Quarter2 2021

06 LAUNCH further beforetheyearisover. a singleentity-1082.Nodoubtthisnumberwillrise quarter, themostsatelliteslaunchedinoneyearby so far.AnotherrecordwasbrokenbySpaceXthis this yeartoacompanyrecordof17(previously16) satellites. ThisbringstheFalcon’stotallaunches these launches,6weresolelydedicatedtoStarlink this quarter,delivering459satellitestoorbit.Of SpaceX’s Falcon9completed8successfullaunches quarter of2021,including3failedlaunchattempts. There were22smallsatellitelaunchesinthesecond satellites, allowingthemto prepareforprovidingbroadbandservicestotheunderserved Articregion.The a singlelauncheachtoSSO.The2polarlaunchesin Q2weretheSoyuzdelivering2batchesofOneWeb quarter. TheLongMarchlaunchvehicleaccountsfor 3ofthese,whilethePegasusandVegarockethad other 3launcheswithinthiscategory.Therewere5 toaSunSynchronousOrbit(SSO)this dedicated toStarlinksatellites).TheAtlas,LauncherOne andLongMarchrocketscontributedtothe Of the9launcheswithinOtherLEOcategory,6of thesewerebytheFalcon9(allof observation satelliteintoorbit. Safir, knownalsoasSimorgh,sufferedtwoconsecutive failuresintheirattemptstoplaceanEarth anticipated a“swiftreturntoflight”butmorespecific schedulewasnotdisclosed.TheIranianlauncher the Electron’sengine,causinganonboardcomputer toshuttheenginedown.RocketLabstatedthey Global Earthobservationsatellites.Therootcauseofthefailurewasthoughttobeamalfunctionwith Rocket Lab’ssingleElectronlaunchthisquarterendedinfailure,causingthelossoftwoBlackSky satellites intheirsingledigits. Minotaur, LauncherOneandAtlasrocketsallhadonelaunchthisquarter,witheachlaunchingsmall satellites, takingtheSoyuztotalnumberofsatelliteslaunchedthisquarterto72.TheVega,Pegasus, rocket hadthenextmostlaunchesthisquarterwith2,bothdeliveredabatchof36OneWeb quarter, with4.TheLongMarchalsosuccessfullydelivered15smallsatellitesintoorbit.Soyuz China’s LongMarchrocketfamilytooksecondplaceintermsofnumbersmallsatellitelaunchesthis orbital parameters hadnotbeenreleased. Transporter 2 ridesharemission,which launched 88smallsatellites intoorbit.Atthetimeof writing,these the purposeofthesesatellites isalsounknown.Notincludedinthesefigures theSpaceXFalcon9 upcoming OlympicGames inTokyo.TheMinotaurrocketlaunched3NROsatellites toaclassifiedorbit, and aJapanesesatellitethat carried2resinfiguresofrobotsfromapopularanime seriestopromotethe science missionfromtheUniversity ofManchester,aneducationalsatellitefrom OakRidgePublicSchool Falcon rocketalsodelivered 4satellitestotheISSbedeployed,includingMauritius’ firstsatellite,a Number ofSmallSatelliteLaunchesandSatellites Launched byLaunchVehicle Orbits byNumberofLaunches

07 You Go? How VLEOCan to these lower orbits? to theselowerorbits? profound –21GEOsatellitestoLEO’s1183.So,whatisdrivingthecompaniesofNewSpaceerashift satellite numbersexplode,pullingfurtherawayfromtheirGEOcounterparts.In2020,thisgapwasevenmore are overdoublethenumberofGEOsatelliteslaunchedintoLEO.Thistrendcontinuesuntil2017whereLEO (LEO) satellitesbeinglaunchedeachyear(withGEOthepopularchoicemostoftime).In2013,there the 90’sandallwayupto2012,weseeasimilarnumberofgeostationaryorbit(GEO)lowEarth Figure 1belowgivesabriefinsightintoonesuchdrastictransformationoverthelasttwentyorsoyears.In increasingly competitiveindustry. edge approachestopushtheenvelopeofwhatcanbeachievedinspace,andgainanadvantagethis falling launchcosts,andnewbusinessmodels,emergingspaceenterprisesarecontinuouslyadoptingcutting- Decades of traditional space operation are experiencing a metamorphosis. Enabled by disruptive technologies, Introduction Scientists Database5-1-21-URL: http://www.ucsusa.org/satellite_database Figure 1:GraphshowingthenumberofGEOandLEOsatellites from 1997-2019-DataSource: UnionofConcerned Chart DisplayingNumberofSatellitesLaunchedtoGEOandLEO

08 more interestthaneverbefore,layingthefoundationsofapotentialverylowEarthorbit(VLEO)market. overcoming gravityinorbitbeginstooutweighthebenefits?Theanswerisnowbeinginvestigatedwith pattern here.Itpromptsthequestionofanorbitallimbo-howlowcanwegobeforeburden to deliverpayloadsLEO(becausetheyareclosertheEarth).Thereisanobvious,butimportant smaller distancetotravel(becausetheyareclosertheEarth).Launchvehiclesalsouselesspropellant (because theyareclosertotheEarth).SatellitesinLEOhavealowerlatencyasradiowaves areas. Earthobservation(EO)satellitescanobtainsimilarresolutionusinglessexpensiveopticalpayloads The “low”inLEOofferssatellitesvariousadvantagesovertheirhigheraltitudeequivalentsseveral cycle variation. models thatmustdealwithuncertainvariablessuchaswindyweatherinthethermosphere,andsolar Another challengeassociatedwithoperatingintheVLEOenvironmentisincompleteatmospheric including erosion. spacecraft andatomicoxygencancauseanumberofchemicalphysicalreactionswiththematerials, it canbeseenthatinVLEOthereisarelativeabundanceofatomicoxygen(AO).Interactionsbetween Another significantfeatureoftheVLEOenvironmentiscompositionatmosphere.FromFigure 2, orbits. which increasesasaltitudedecreases,resultinginanincreasingdragforceactingonthespacecraftit One ofthemoreobviousenvironmentalcharacteristicsatthisaltitudeislargeratmosphericdensity, has onaspacecraftataltitudesbelow450km. This upperboundaryofVLEOisdefinedbytheincreasedsignificanteffectsthatresidualatmosphere Very lowEarthorbitisdefinedastheareaofspacebetween100kmand450kmaltitudeaboveEarth. letter tothiswidelyrecognisedacronym? does thelowbecome“very”low,andwhyisthisaltitudesignificantenoughthatitrequiresanadditional between 5,000and12,000km,whileLEOplatformsoccupythespacebelow2,000km.So,atwhichpoint Satellites inGEOtypicallyorbitatanaltitudeofaround35,000km,mediumEarth(MEO)satellites What isVLEO? Manchester Credit: N.H. Crisp,DISCOVERERProject, University of Figure 2: Atmospheric CompositionwithVarying Altitude.

9 maintaining thesamespatialresolution. detected byasatellitesensor.Aswedecreasetheorbitalaltitude,aperturecanbereduced,whilestill and ontothecamerasensor.Spatialresolutionreferstosizeofsmallestfeaturethatcanbe resolution increases.Apertureistheholeinlensthroughwhichlighttravelsintocamerabody For agivenEOsatelliteopticalpayloadwithfixedaperture,astheorbitalaltitudedecreases,spatial Resolution Performance Benefits ofVLEO satellite. This process, knownasradiationhardening, hasdetrimentaleffects ontheoverallmassand costofthe are abletowithstand thisradiation,and carryouttheirtask,forthe requireddurationofthe mission. ionizing radiation.Spacecraft componentsandsubsystemsmustbedesigned in suchawaythatthey The outerspaceenvironment beyondourEarth’sprotectiveatmosphereisfilled withhighlevelsof Radiation Environment antenna’s signal-to-noiseratioimproveswithouthaving toincreaseinsize. experience lessfreespaceloss(theinsignalstrength asittravelsthroughfreespace).Asaresult,an The shorterrangebetweenthesatelliteandtargetground stationsmeansthatcommunicationsignals and theamountofpowerrequiredfortransmission, which willreducethecostoflink. could enjoybenefitsofthislowerorbitalaltitudetoo. Theshorterdistancesreducedatalatency(delay) It isnotjustEOsatellitesthatcantakeadvantageof theVLEOenvironment.Communicationsatellites Communication Performance accuracy duetothesevarioussourcesoferrorgenerally improvewithadecreasingorbitalaltitude. satellite positioningtechnology,anduncertaintiesin spacecraft positionandattitude.Thegeospatial Several factorsofaspacecraftcontributetoitsaccuracysuchaserrorsassociatedwithcalibration accuracy isthedegreetowhichanEOmeasuredlocationofapositionmatchesreal-worldvalues. Another importantaspectofanEOorremotesensingsatelliteisthegeospatialaccuracy.The Geospatial Accuracy which inturnenablesthemtorespondevolvingmarketdemands. companies toreplenishtheirconstellationsorfleetswithnextgenerationtechnologyatfrequentintervals, These shortenedlifetimeswillnotonlyhelptoaddressspacedebrismitigationbutalsoallow (IADC) guidelineof25years. mean thatthesatelliteswouldeasilysatisfyInter-AgencySpaceDebrisCoordinationCommittee satellite canbeusedfororbitandaltitudecontrol.Aswellasthis,theshorterorbitallifetimesduetodrag spacecraft, thiscanbeusedtotheVLEOoperator’sadvantage.Theaerodynamicforcesactingon Although theincreasedatmosphericdensityleadstochallengeofaneffectdragon Manoeuvring andSpaceDebrisMitigation (the abilityoftheinstrumenttodistinguishdifferencesinlightintensityorreflectance). This relationshipwithaltitudealsoholdstrueinfrared/microwavesensorsandradiometricresolution ultimately costofthesatellite. maintaining thesameperformancecapabilities,andreducingmass,powerrequirements, to massorcost.Loweraltitudeoperationsalsoenabletheopticalpayloadbereducedinsize,whilst This meansthatatloweraltitudes,opticalpayloadswillhavegreatercapabilities,withoutanypenalty

10 1 Modelling andSimulation ofVery LowEarthOrbits –Gonzalez etal.(2019) fuel requirementsreduce.Thisleadstocostsavingsandacheaperaccessspace.Therearealso As thetargetaltitudedecreases,amountofgravitytoovercomelessens,flighttimesshorten,and Launch Costs are notascritical,enablingtheuseofcheaperCOTS(CommercialOff-The-Shelf)technologies. The exposuretoradiationisnotasprominentinVLEO,meaningspecialisedhardenedpayloads components or affectthemeasurements ofscientificpayloadsthrough interference. which resultsinspacecraft charging.Spacecraftchargingcancausedamageto onboardelectronic Atomic oxygeninteractions withthesatellitealsoaffectselectricalconductivity ofamaterial, Spacecraft Charging components orreducetheperformanceofthermalinsulation systems. with mostmaterialsitencounters,causingerosion.This canleadtodegradationinstrengthofstructural with theseatomicoxygenparticlesisalsoincreased. Atomicoxygenishighlyreactive,andcombines above, satellitesatloweraltitudeswillbetravelling ahighervelocity,meaningthatcollisionenergy The compositionoftheatmosphereinVLEOhasahigher presenceofatomicoxygen.Asmentioned High PresenceofAtomicOxygen VLEO satellitestotheground. One datatransmissionalternativewhichisbeingexplored istheuseofaGEOsatellitetorelaydatafrom communications windowwillbecomemoreofanissue, asitalreadyisonsomecurrentEOmissions. collected sinceitslastpass.Aslargerandamountsofdataarebeinggenerated,ashortened The satelliteusesthecommunicationswindowtodownlinkgroundstationdataithas window istheperiodinwhichasatelliteavailableforcommunicationwithcertaingroundstation. reduces, along with the satellite’s communications window and revisit opportunities. The communications As altitudedecreases,thesatellite’sfootprint(thegroundareathatitstranspondersoffercoverage) Communications WindowandSatelliteFootprint control systemstoovercometheseperturbations. decreases. Asaresult,thespacecraftplatformislessstableinVLEOandrequiresadditionalattitude The disturbingforcesactingonaspacecraftduetoaerodynamicperturbationsincreaseasaltitude Aerodynamic Perturbations is essential,aswellcompensationforthisdragforce,whichaddsfurthercomplexitytothedesign. satellite willbegreatlyinfluencedbythischaracteristic;anexpertknowledgeofspacecraftaerodynamics can reducethelifetimeofasatellitedrastically,fromyearstomattermonths the aerodynamicforcesactingonspacecraftwillcauseagreaterdrageffect.Thisincreasein The higherdensityatmospherepresentinVLEO,aswelltheincreasedspeedsofsatellites,meansthat Increased Drag Challenges ofVLEO increased, whichdrivesdowncostsfurther. larger numberoflaunchcompanieswhocandelivertolowerorbitalaltitudes,meaningthatcompetitionis 1 . ThedesignofaVLEO

11 Air-Scooping ElectricPropulsion energize averylowEarthorbitmarket. associated withVLEO.Researchisbeingcarriedouttodevelopanumberoftechnologiesthatwill There areseveralcapabilitiesthatneededtoovercomethesechallengesandfullyexploitthebenefits Enabling Technologies Share Alike4.0International thruster” ActaAstronautica 147:114-126,June2018,DOI:10.1016/j.actaastro.2018.03.031 License:Creative CommonsAttribution- , T. Schönherr, “Systemanalysisandtest-bedforanatmosphere-breathing electricpropulsion systemusinganinductiveplasma Figure 3:AirBreathing ElectricPropulsion Engine.Source: F. Romano, B.Massuti-Ballester, T.Binder ,G.Herdrich ,S.Fasoulas the propulsionsystemtosurviveatomicoxygenerosionforlifetimeofsatellite. challenges toovercomesuchasthedesignofefficientelectronicsandairintakes,wellability of need tocarryanyon-boardpropellant,reducingsatellitemass.However,thereareseveraltechnological can replenishitspropellant,allowingthelifeofasatelliteinVLEOtobeextended.Italsoeliminates opposed tomoretraditional(finite)electricpropulsionpropellantssuchasxenonmeansthattheengine propulsion technologyconceptthatcollectsairparticlestouseaspropellant.Using Air-Scooping ElectricPropulsion(ASEP)alsoknownasAir-Breathing(ABEP)isa

12 Aerodynamic AttitudeandOrbitControl erosion. is currentlybeingdonetoidentifymaterialsandcoatingsthatarelowdragresistantatomicoxygen Improvements areneededtothematerialsofspacecraftthatinteractwithatmosphere.Research Materials solutions thatwillunlockthefullpotentialofVLEO.Thelistisnotexhaustive. The tablebelowbrieflydetailsexamplesofsomethehistoricalandcurrenteffortsindeveloping Activities inVLEO would enablethesesatelliteplatformstooperateatoptimumefficiencies. technologies. Sensorsthatprovidehyper-accuratemeasurementsoftheVLEOatmosphericnuances is the implementation of advanced atmospheric sensors that inform these emerging propulsion and ACOS Another technologicaldevelopmentthatwouldaidinthewiderspreadadoptionofVLEOsatellitesystems Atmospheric Sensors requirements oftraditionalattitudeandorbitcontrolsystems. are underwaytogeneratenewgeometricconceptsandcontrolmethodswhichmayreducethe can beusedtohelpperformattitudeandorbitcontrol(AOCS)manoeuvres.Researchdevelopment Although perceivedasachallengetoovercome,theincreasedpresenceofaerodynamicforcesinVLEO New Orbit Pathfinder New Orbit Pathfinder (NEO) Skeyeon NearEarthOrbiter (SOAR) Aerodynamics Research Satellite forOrbital SkimSat Satellite (SLATS) Super LowAltitudeTest GOCE Satellite Name Under development 2022 Expected Launch 2023 Expected Launch Launched June2021 Concept Study2019 2019 Re-entry October 2017 Launched December 2013 Re-entry November 2009 Launched March Status New OrbitInc Observant Earth New OrbitInc Observant Earth Skeyeon consortium DISCOVERER Thales JAXA ESA manoeuvres. observation, telecommunication andsatellite in anumberofvariousapplications suchasEarth Aim tousetheirVLEOplatformand technology VLEO. satellites tocollect“ultra-high”resolution imagedatain Commercial EOcompanydevelopingaconstellation of manoeuvres. observation, telecommunicationandsatellite in anumberofvariousapplicationssuchasEarth Aim tousetheirVLEOplatformandtechnology VLEO. satellites tocollect“ultra-high”resolution imagedatain Commercial EOcompanydevelopingaconstellationof 10-20 satelliteconstellationinVLEO. Commercial companytargeting theEOmarketwitha atmosphere and associated gas-surfaceinteractions. Cubesat thatwillstudytheverylowEarthorbitresidual Small satellitedesignedforoperationsinVLEO. at altitudesintherangeof180-250km. Technology demonstration minisatellitetoorbittheEarth gravity field. Explorer (GOCE) wasflowninVLEOtomaptheEarth’s Gravity fieldandstead-stateOceanCirculations Description

13 most suitableidiomwouldbe:“soclose,yetsofar”…fornow. is achallengetoovercome.WhendescribingtherealityofwidelyadoptedspaceoperationsinVLEO, a VLEO-basedmarketinthefuture.However,foreveryadvantageaffordedbyverylowEarthorbit,there technologies, andthehighpotentialvalueofaneffectiveVLEOsolution,itisnotunreasonabletopicture With thespotlightonthisorbitbecomingmoreprominentthaneverbefore,rapidevolutionofspace CONCLUSION

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