Synopsis
The 2022 State of the Art Small Spacecraft Technology Report provides an overview of the current state of small spacecraft technology across various subsystems like power, propulsion, structures, thermal control, communications, navigation, and more.
Some key points from the report:
- Small spacecraft like CubeSats have seen rapid innovation and are enabling new mission capabilities. Mass, volume, and power constraints drive technology developments.
- For power systems, products focus on maximizing power density and efficiency. Various EPS options exist from micro to nano sizes. Peak power ranges from 10s of watts to over 1kW.
- Propulsion systems are transitioning more to green propellants like water plasma and ion engines. Thrust levels range from micronewtons to newtons.
- Structures use materials like composites and aluminum to optimize strength-to-weight. Deployable structures allow larger apertures.
- Thermal control combines passive technologies like coatings, insulation, and heat pipes with active solutions like electrical heaters.
- Communications can leverage existing radio systems but optical comm is an emerging tech for high data rates.
- Navigation relies on GPS but new tech like deep space optical comm is being developed.
- The report provides various product tables across subsystems with specs like mass, volume, power, efficiency etc.
- It notes trends and developments across the small spacecraft domain and captures the current state of the art in compact form.
In summary, the report provides a comprehensive overview of the latest small spacecraft technologies across all major subsystems, noting key innovations, capabilities, and products. It serves as a useful reference for the current state of the art.