Nanosatellite swarm support for larger satellites

Nano-satellites are small (less than 10 kg) and low cost satellites of which quite a number has been launched the last few years, mostly as university educational or research projects. The development of professional scientific and commercial applications is still in its infancy and there are only few examples of satellite mission developments yet where nanosatellites are the essential enabling technology. Examples are the OLFAR radio telescope, based on a swarm of nanosatellites in moon-orbit and a global AIS observation system based on nanosatellites by the company ISIS. These are new (niche) applications which are not easily implemented with more traditional satellites. Nanosatellites cooperating in a swarm, can form a large area (global) sensor network, increasing either the coverage or time resolution in an affordable way. However, generally the resolution and accuracy of the instruments which can be flown on a nanosatellite are not comparable to those of larger satellites. So swarms and constellations of larger satellites are optimal for different tasks. Large (high-cost) satellites can accommodate high performance payloads that provide excellent spatial resolution for observations, but tend to suffer from very limited time resolution (long revisit times) and coverage. In that sense nanosatellite swarms and systems of larger satellites seem to be complementary. So an architecture which integrates both systems into a single “eco-system‿ is bound to lead to an affordable observation platform that can meet societal needs much more easily, in the demand for both accurate and timely information. This paper discusses in detail aspects of such an eco-system. The paper also addresses potential sensor technology which can be accommodated on nanosatellite platforms