Nanosat / Cubesat constellation concepts

Abstract: This thesis was produced at Cranfield University, with support fromEADS Astrium who introduced the base requirements for the study. The subjectto be researched was the possibility of using Cubesats for producing viableEarth Observation missions when they would be used in some constellationconfiguration.The project involved surveying nanosat / Cubesat constellation marketsand concepts (e.g. real-time data) for Earth Observation, using new / enabling technologies (i.e. deployable membranes, quad junction cells, miniature instruments). The project also contributes to the Cubesat projects by providing a roadmap of possible future missions enabled by advanced Cubesats.The study concluded by selecting a present day possible mission whichcould be developed by using COTS components and space-proved instrumentsand some missions which could be developed in the near future using othernew technologies yet to be made available for space applications. Somesimulations of the possible missions were performed in order to determine the best configurations and results are presented in the discussion and conclusion chapters.