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Study of Future Perspectives of Micro/Nanosatellites Constellations in the Earth Observation Market

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Study of Future Perspectives of Micro/Nanosatellites Constellations in the Earth Observation Market Study of future perspectives of micro/nanosatellites constellations in the Earth Observation market Master’s thesis Master’s Degree in Aeronautical Engineering REPORT Mariona Costa Rabionet June 2019 Supervisor of the TFM: Miquel Sureda Anfres Co-Supervisior of TFM: Silvia Rodríguez Donaire Study of future perspectives of micro/nanosatellites constellations in the Earth Observation market Intentionally left blank 2 Study of future perspectives of micro/nanosatellites constellations in the Earth Observation market Acknowledgements I would like to thank the members of the Discoverer team to give me the opportunity to be part of their group and allow me to develop my master thesis in such an interesting topic. Especially to Miquel who help me during all the process of development of the thesis and give me such wise pieces of advice and recommendations of which I have learned a lot not only in the technical point of view but also from the personal point of view. And last but not least, I would also thank my family and friends for all the support that I have always receive from them and their patience no matter what the situation or decisions I am involved with. 3 Study of future perspectives of micro/nanosatellites constellations in the Earth Observation market Abstract The principal aim of this thesis is to study through qualitative and quantitative analysis, the future perspectives of the Micro/Nanosatellites constellations in the Earth observation market. The objective of doing the qualitative analysis is to identify and study in detail several companies that are designing commercial Micro/Nano-satellite constellation to fulfil the needs of the Earth Observation market in order to have an overall perspective of where the sector is going. Once the qualitative analysis has been made and the main interesting parameters of micro/nanosatellite constellation are found, we will run the quantitative analysis. With the performance of this analysis, we are able to determine if the expectations of the companies of the performance of the constellations are realistic or not. To determine the feasibility of these parameters, they will be compared with the results obtained by implementing a specific case in the SaVi software. 4 Study of future perspectives of micro/nanosatellites constellations in the Earth Observation market Resum L’objectiu principal d’aquesta tesi és estudiar a través d’anàlisi qualitativa i quantitativa les perspectives de futur de les constel·lacions micro / nano-satèl·lits en el mercat d’observació de la Terra. L’objectiu de l’anàlisi qualitativa és identificar i estudiar en detall diverses empreses que estan dissenyant una constel·lació comercial de micro / nano-satèl·lits per satisfer les necessitats del mercat de l’Observació de la Terra per tenir una perspectiva general d’on va el sector. Un cop realitzada l’anàlisi qualitativa i els principals paràmetres interessants de la constel·lació micro / nano-satèl·lit, s’explica l’anàlisi quantitativa. Amb la realització d’aquesta anàlisi, som capaços de determinar si les expectatives de les empreses sobre el rendiment de les constel·lacions són realistes o no. Per determinar la viabilitat d’aquests paràmetres, s’hi compararan amb el resultat obtingut mitjançant la implementació d’un cas específic al programari SaVi. 5 Study of future perspectives of micro/nanosatellites constellations in the Earth Observation market Content Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... 3 Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... 4 Resum ............................................................................................................................................ 5 DECLARATION OF HONOUR .......................................................................................................... 6 List of figures ................................................................................................................................. 9 List of tables ................................................................................................................................ 10 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 11 1.1. Aim .............................................................................................................................. 11 1.2. Scope ........................................................................................................................... 11 1.3. Requirements .............................................................................................................. 11 1.4. Justification ................................................................................................................. 12 2. State of the art .................................................................................................................... 16 2.1. New space concept ..................................................................................................... 16 2.2. Microsatellites and nanosatellites .............................................................................. 18 2.3. Remote sensing technology ........................................................................................ 20 2.4. Earth Observation business ......................................................................................... 25 2.5. Global trends in Small satellites .................................................................................. 27 2.5.1. Scenarios ............................................................................................................. 27 2.5.2. Drivers ................................................................................................................. 37 2.5.3. Overall evaluation ............................................................................................... 39 3. Qualitative analysis ............................................................................................................. 40 3.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 40 3.2. Commercial companies ............................................................................................... 40 1.1.1. Planet .................................................................................................................. 40 1.1.2. Astro Digital ......................................................................................................... 42 1.1.3. BlackSky ............................................................................................................... 43 1.1.4. Satellogic ............................................................................................................. 44 1.1.5. Zhuhai Orbita Control .......................................................................................... 45 1.1.6. ICEYE .................................................................................................................... 46 1.1.7. Capella Space....................................................................................................... 47 1.1.8. Earth-i .................................................................................................................. 48 1.1.9. Axelspace ............................................................................................................. 49 1.1.10. Karten Space ........................................................................................................ 50 1.1.11. Hera Systems ....................................................................................................... 50 7 Study of future perspectives of micro/nanosatellites constellations in the Earth Observation market 1.1.12. SatRevolution ...................................................................................................... 51 1.2. Technical parameters of the constellations ................................................................ 52 1.3. Results of the analysis ................................................................................................. 57 4. Quantitative analysis ........................................................................................................... 64 4.1. Flock constellation introduction ................................................................................. 64 4.2. SAVI Simulation Results ............................................................................................... 67 4.3. Results of the analysis ................................................................................................. 82 5. Environmental, economic and safety aspects ..................................................................... 87 5.1. Environmental aspects ................................................................................................ 87 5.2. Economic aspects ........................................................................................................ 87 5.3. Safety aspects .............................................................................................................. 87 6. Conclusions ........................................................................................................................
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