6U CubeSat commercial applications

Abstract

AbstractRecent work by Tsitas and Kingston(1)has demonstrated that an 8kg 6U CubeSat can be designed to perform Earth observation missions equivalent to those of 50-150kg microsatellites. Their design is reviewed and its commercial potential is compared to the 156kg RapidEye spacecraft. Three other commercial applications of this design are described. These are: a standard spacecraft for space scientists and astronomers; the spacecraft component of anNnation 5 spectral band disaster monitoring constellation and a night imaging satellite. Nanosatellites should now be considered for commercial missions previously thought to require microsatellites.