The space industry is undergoing a dramatic transformation, driven by the rise of small satellites and the increasing accessibility of space. One key enabler of this new space economy is the Satellite Network of Open Ground Stations, or SatNOGS. This open source project is revolutionizing how we communicate with satellites by creating a global network of low-cost ground stations that anyone can use.
What is SatNOGS?
SatNOGS is a complete open source platform for communicating with satellites. It consists of four main components:
- SatNOGS Network – A web application that allows users to schedule observations and access data from satellites
- SatNOGS Database – A crowdsourced repository of satellite transmitter information
- SatNOGS Client – Software that runs on ground stations to receive scheduled observations and send data back to the network
- SatNOGS Ground Station – Open source hardware designs for antennas, rotators, and electronics to build a functional ground station
The key innovation of SatNOGS is its modular, decentralized architecture. Anyone can set up their own SatNOGS ground station using inexpensive, readily available parts. The stations connect to the global SatNOGS network, allowing users to schedule satellite observations from anywhere in the world. The received data is then made publicly available.
SatNOGS was founded in 2014 by volunteers at the Athens Hackerspace in Greece. It began as a project for the NASA International Space Apps Challenge hackathon. In its first year, SatNOGS won the grand prize at the Hackaday Prize competition, providing seed funding to establish the non-profit Libre Space Foundation to support the project’s continued development.
Enabling Citizen Science and Education
One of the primary goals of SatNOGS is to enable citizen science and make space more accessible to students and educators. The cost of building a SatNOGS ground station starts at only a few hundred dollars, putting it within reach of many schools and universities. The open source hardware and software allows students to understand and modify every part of the system.
SatNOGS ground stations are already being used for hands-on education around the world. Students can design and launch small satellites with the knowledge that a global network of stations is available to communicate with them. Receiving real satellite signals and decoding actual data from space provides an exciting and tangible introduction to aerospace and communications engineering.
The SatNOGS project has an active and welcoming community that provides support and mentorship to those building stations or integrating them into educational programs. All of the hardware designs, software, and received data are published under open licenses, enabling sharing and collaboration.
Supporting New Space Startups
Another key impact of SatNOGS is lowering the barriers to entry for new space startups. Acquiring access to satellite ground stations has traditionally been a major challenge and expense for companies launching small satellites. Building a global network of dedicated ground stations is typically not feasible for a startup.
SatNOGS provides an alternative by allowing companies to leverage the existing crowdsourced network. A startup can begin using SatNOGS ground stations during development and testing, then scale up to more advanced commercial stations as they grow. The global coverage of the SatNOGS network is particularly valuable for missions in low Earth orbit, enabling frequent contacts with satellites.
The successful launch and operation of the QB50 cubesat constellation demonstrated the potential of SatNOGS for supporting large-scale missions. QB50 included over 50 small satellites built by university teams around the world. The SatNOGS network was used to receive telemetry and sensor data from the satellites, markedly increasing the amount of data collected compared to each team using only their own ground stations.
Several new space and IoT companies, such as Lacuna Space, have also begun using SatNOGS as part of their satellite communications infrastructure. As the number of small satellites in orbit grows rapidly, the demand for flexible and affordable ground station solutions like SatNOGS will continue to increase.
Advancing the State of the Art
SatNOGS is more than just an operational network – it also serves as a platform for developing and testing new technologies for satellite communications. The open source nature of the project allows researchers and engineers to easily experiment with new techniques and share their results.
Areas of active research and development within the SatNOGS community include:
- Optimized antennas and RF designs for tracking LEO satellites
- Automated scheduling algorithms to coordinate observations across the network
- New modulation schemes and protocols for small satellite communications
- Integration of SatNOGS with other open source satellite projects such as LibreCube
SatNOGS has also been used as a platform for exploring the application of machine learning to satellite communications. Researchers have used data collected by the network to train neural networks for tasks like modulation classification and automatic decoding of beacon telemetry.
As SatNOGS continues to expand in capability and global reach, it will enable further innovation in small satellite technology and mission design. The ability to rely on a pre-existing, inexpensive global ground station network allows satellite engineers to focus more time and resources on payload development and on-orbit operations. This will accelerate the already rapid growth of the small satellite ecosystem.
The Future of SatNOGS
As of 2024, SatNOGS has deployed over 500 active ground stations around the world and collected over 15 million satellite observations. However, the project shows no signs of slowing down. The SatNOGS development team continues to improve the hardware designs, add new features to the network scheduling software, and expand the database of supported satellites.
One of the major goals for the future is increasing the number of ground stations, particularly in remote locations that are currently underserved. The project is exploring partnerships with universities, makerspaces, and other organizations to host SatNOGS stations and promote space education in developing countries.
SatNOGS is also continuing to develop support for higher frequency bands and more advanced modulation schemes. The ability to receive from satellites in the S and X bands will allow SatNOGS to support an even wider range of missions. Improved support for MIMO antennas and novel signal processing techniques will increase the sensitivity and throughput of the network.
