Abstract
In the last decade there has been growing use of smaller satellites (0-100kg) to conduct Earth observation and science missions and this industry is growing. 2014 saw a small satellite launch increase of 72% compared with 2013. Companies such as Planet Labs are starting to launch large numbers of small satellites. However, to date the use of small satellites has been restricted due to the limited launch availability to this class of satellite. Due to their small size these satellites are normally launched as secondary payloads on larger launch vehicles (such as Falcon 9 or Ariane 5). This restriction has severely limited the launch dates available to these small satellites and also limits their orbit selection.
Published Version
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