2007 - It's the Mission that Matters

Small satellites are but one piece of a larger system that enables users to achieve goals that might otherwise not be technically possible, affordable, or as timely as systems employing larger spacecraft. Small satellites may be an enabling, even disruptive technology, but it is the mission they perform that matters in all cases. That mission may be providing the first images of a disaster event, connecting remote regions of the world to medical assistance from the other side of the world, enabling a warfighter to see over the hill in real time, or robotically exploring the surface of a near-Earth asteroid. Whatever the application, the utility of a small space mission is the metric by which small satellites will ultimately be measured, and thereby gain further acceptance. The 21ST Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites will focus on the mission and the underlying mission-enabling technologies that make them uniquely capable platforms, either individually or in constellations.