CNES Miniaturization Policy: An Answer to Nanosatellites Challenges

The reduction of mass and size with improvement of the performance of a device is a permanent challenge for the space industry. The French National Space Agency has funded hundreds of R&D activities in the past, in all dedicated technical areas to facilitate these kind of technological evolution. Miniaturization efforts have, more recently, encountered a growing field of application, the one of Nanosatellites. For these applications, performance/cost trade-off is largely dominated by full cost, that is to say the cost including the entire satellite system development, from the initial idea to the end of life, including operations, data processing and its distribution. The carried out trade-offs are therefore based on a different constraints environment, in which the risk variable is systematically re-evaluated considering the cost/performance couple; the methods, the development process and the planning of delivery being directly impacted by this challenge. In this logic, and while continuing its efforts to miniaturize and improve performance for conventional markets (Earth observation, science, telecommunications, ...), CNES has adapted its working environment around the Nanosats domain to accelerate the development of adapted solutions. This adaptation being made both in terms of new development processes and of use of new COTS technology for equipment themselves. Moreover, projects in New Space are changing the historical relationship between CNES and its industrial partners and are encouraging a transition from a client/provider approach to a more co-partners approach. The objective of success for both parties implies active collaboration. Together, CNES and industrials manage to anticipate difficulties and accelerate project schedule. The article presents the state of the current activities around the Nanosat environment by specifying the origin of these activities and the trends that are pursued for the future