Building, Deploying and Operating a Cubesat Constellation - Exploring the Less Obvious Reasons Space is Hard

Building, Deploying and Operating a Cubesat Constellation - Exploring the Less Obvious Reasons Space is Hard

“Space is hard” often gets translated to “Space technology is hard”. This mindset disregards some of the critical aspects of developing, deploying and operating a Cubesat constellation. Throughout this paper, we walk through what Spire has undertaken to get a commercial satellite constellation up and running. To enable both scale and rapid technology iteration, the design processes and systems have evolved to be lean but reliable. An iterative systems engineering approach ensures the necessary control, speed and reliability as features are added to the constellation. Solid process control and an experienced manufacturing team ensure reliable, repeatable and rapid satellite Assembly, Integration and Testing (AIT). A global groundstation network provides full control in accessing the satellite data. Complex software systems are in place to orchestrate the space and ground assets, to extract maximum customer value and provide the mission flexibility that’s needed in rapidly changing market environments. An efficient satellite operations team monitors and responds to the changing behaviors of the constellation. All of these factors together comprise a system that can be leveraged to enable other businesses to be successful as well without having to build and maintain all this infrastructure, as the importance of the space-as-a-service concept grows.