Small Satellites

November 26, 2008

When you think of a satellite, you probably picture something the size of a school bus. Now University of Florida engineers have developed one you could hold in your hand, weighing about two pounds. UF engineer Norman Fitz-Coy and his team designed the prototype so it could be mass-produced.

Fitz-Coy: “What we’re doing is developing technologies that would enable responsiveness in space systems. So we’re looking from the perspective of development an entire spacecraft similar in form to what’s done in the computer industry, where things are pre-packaged and simply assembled when they’re needed.”

Most satellites cost millions of dollars to build and launch. With these small satellites, researchers say it could take as little as one hundred to five hundred thousand dollars to build and launch them.

Fitz-Coy: “If you can make the assets smaller and use higher technology to accomplish the same benefits, then yes, theoretically it may translate, and note the choice of words, may translate in to cost benefits.”

Experts say having a swarm of small satellites in orbit could add new options, such as observing weather on earth from different locations, more than can be done with a single satellite.

(See related post: )