Technology Advances, Lower Costs Pushing Small Satellite Boom, Panelists Say
The small-satellite world is getting bigger in part because technology is making such satellites -- and the costs of launching them -- smaller. "It's really an exciting time," said Andy Hock, Skybox at Google project manager, Thursday on a panel about the small satellite market put together by the Washington Space Business Roundtable.
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Recent days have seen OneWeb announce it signed a deal with Airbus to design and build its constellation of hundreds of 150 kg micro satellites for a planned worldwide broadband network, and landed $500 million in outside funding (see 1506250023">1506250023); PlanetiQ signing a similar deal with Blue Canyon Technologies to build 12 small satellites for weather monitoring work; and UrtheCast announcing plans for a set of imaging satellites to go up by decade end. Spire expects to launch its first batch of satellites in October and is putting together its ground recovery network now, with the aim of 125 low-Earth orbit satellites by 2017, said Antoine de Chassy, senior business development executive. Skybox -- purchased by Google in 2014 for $500 million -- plans to build 13 satellites over the next 12 to 18 months
Advances in technology and changing markets are two main drivers for increased small satellite demand, panelists said. "Technical progress has just accelerated at an incredible rate," said Conrad Lautenbacher, GeoOptics CEO. And as technology has allowed for smaller and cheaper satellites, "There's been much more interest in what we're doing." Public policy also has helped, as different White House administrations in recent years have all encouraged commercialization of space, Lautenbacher said. The Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act passed by the House last month also could spur the satellite industry as it pushes the government to consider commercial sources of weather data, he said.
Skybox's focus is on major corporations that are increasingly data driven, with the company's aim that satellites "be just another data source," Hock said. The costs of commercial launches have declined, while its customers' data storage costs and capabilities have improved, driving the need for even more data, he said. The Internet of Everything will push even more demand for small satellites -- particularly as the microscopic nanoradio market results in vast numbers of such sensors turning out data, panelists said.
One potential pileup could come from the increased volume of small-satellite applications National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration regulators are having to deal with, as what had been a handful of applications a year just a couple of years ago has grown to multiples of that, Hock said. "It's a big challenge for them." While the numbers have not caused delay problems for Skybox, "we collectively as an industry have to think of how to deal with this," he said.