The space industry is growing and space data are becoming accessible to businesses that were previously unthinkable. Constellations of small satellites in Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) have created a gap that is allowing small and medium-sized space companies to gain momentum by developing new strategies and technologies. According to Euroconsult forecasting, the NewSpace market will grow from $12.6 billion to $42.8 billion in the next decade (2019–2028). Despite the study’s limitations and the uncertainties of the small satellite market, the results obtained in this exploratory research suggest that the Low-Cost Carriers (LCC) market, an already established market in the aviation industry, and the growing market of EO small satellite constellations in VLEO have similar behaviours. This behaviour shows that the evolution of EO smallsat constellations in VLEO is comparable with the evolution of the LCC airlines. In addition, the result also identifies a set of competitive factors that allow the researchers to observe similar strategic behaviour in both markets.

A business roadmap is a high-level strategic management tool that maps the actions to develop new industries. It serves as a guide to plan and forecast technological, market and product developments in a more operational way. Precisely, the business roadmap of this article highlights the main actions to be taken by the European Union (EU) space ecosystem with regards to Low Earth Orbit (LEO)—orbits from 450 to 2000 km—and Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO)—orbits from 150 to 450 km. On the one hand, it is necessary to (1) develop industrial and technological space capabilities, (2) continue investing public funds in European Programs to develop new vehicle concepts of access to space, (3) improve testing, demonstration and exploration for faster the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) development, (4) promote an entrepreneurial and risk-taking culture, and (5) leverage the private investment to boost the development of advanced access to space technologies, attract talent, promote collaboration between public and private companies, and finance NewSpace Small–Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs). On the other hand, it should also strengthen its relationship with the European Space Agency (ESA) to foster its space capabilities and become a competitive player in the access to space market in the medium term (5–10 years). The implementation of these actions will help the EU to improve its international positioning, and adapt the technology to the needs and requirements of NewSpace demand, mobilizing around €40,500 million euros for the EU economy during the first 10–15 years of operations with an average Leverage Factor (LF) of 4.

To extend missions lifetime at very low altitudes, an efficient propulsion system is required to compensate for aerodynamic drag. One solution is Atmosphere-Breathing Electric Propulsion (ABEP). It collects atmospheric particles to be used as propellant for an electric thruster. The system ideally nullifies the requirement of onboard propellant storage. An ABEP system can be applied to any celestial body with atmosphere (Mars, Venus, Titan, etc.), enabling new mission at low altitude ranges for longer times. Challenging is operation of the thruster on reactive chemical species, such as atomic oxygen (AO), that is highly present in low Earth orbit, as they cause erosion of (not only) propulsion system components, i.e. acceleration grids, electrodes, neutralizers, and discharge channels of conventional EP systems. For this reason, a contactless plasma thruster is developed: the RF helicon-based plasma thruster (IPT). The paper describes the thruster design, implementation, and first ignition tests. The thruster presents a novel antenna called the birdcage antenna that is implemented for decades in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines. The design is supported by the simulation tool XFdtd®. The IPT is aided by an externally applied static magnetic field that provides the boundary condition for the helicon wave formation within the plasma discharge. The antenna working principle allows to minimize losses in the electric circuit and provides, together with the applied magnetic field, acceleration of a quasi-neutral plasma plume.

After decades of traditional space businesses, the space paradigm is changing. New approaches to more efficient missions in terms of costs, design, and manufacturing processes are fostered. For instance, placing big constellations of micro- and nano-satellites in Low Earth Orbit and Very Low Earth Orbit (LEO and VLEO) enables the space community to obtain a huge amount of data in near real-time with an unprecedented temporal resolution. Beyond technology innovations, other drivers promote innovation in the space sector like the increasing demand for Earth Observation (EO) data by the commercial sector. Perez et al. stated that the EO industry is the second market in terms of operative satellites (661 units), micro- and nano-satellites being the higher share of them (61%). Technological and market drivers encourage the emergence of new start-ups in the space environment like Skybox, OneWeb, Telesat, Planet, and OpenCosmos, among others, with novel business models that change the accessibility, affordability, ownership, and commercialization of space products and services. This chapter shows some results of the H2020 DISCOVERER (DISruptive teChnOlogies for VERy low Earth oRbit platforms) Project and focuses on understanding how micro- and nano-satellites have been disrupting the EO market in front of traditional platforms.

The DISCOVERER project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 737183. This publication reflects only the view of the authors. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains

DISCOVERER is a European Commission funded project aiming to revolutionise satellite applications in Very Low Earth Orbits (VLEO). The project encompasses many different aspects of the requirements for sustainable operation, including developments on geometric designs, aerodynamic attitude and orbital control, improvement of intake designs for atmosphere breathing electric propulsion, commercial viability, and development of novel materials. This paper is focused solely on the description of the experimental facility designed and constructed to perform ground testing of materials, characterising their behaviour in conditions similar to those found in VLEO. ROAR, Rarefied Orbital Aerodynamics Research facility, is an experiment designed to provide a controlled environment with free molecular flow and atomic oxygen flux comparable to the real orbital environment. ROAR is a novel experiment, with the objective of providing better and deeper understanding of the gas-surface interactions between the material and the atmosphere, rather than other atomic oxygen exposure facilities which are mainly focused on erosion studies. The system is comprised of three major parts, (i) ultrahigh vacuum setup, (ii) hyperthermal oxygen atom generator (HOAG) and (iii) ion-neutral mass spectrometers (INMS). Each individual part will be considered, their performance analysed based on experimental data acquired during the characterisation and commissioning, thus leading to a complete description of ROAR’s capabilities. Among the key parameters to be discussed are operational pressure, atomic oxygen flux, beam shape and energy spread, mass resolution, signal-to-noise ratio and experimental methodology.

Renewed interest in Very Low Earth Orbits (VLEO) - i.e. altitudes below 450 km - has led to an increased demand for accurate environment characterisation and aerodynamic force prediction. While the former requires knowledge of the mechanisms that drive density variations in the thermosphere, the latter also depends on the interactions between the gas-particles in the residual atmosphere and the surfaces exposed to the flow. The determination of the aerodynamic coefficients is hindered by the numerous uncertainties that characterise the physical processes occurring at the exposed surfaces. Several models have been produced over the last 60 years with the intent of combining accuracy with relatively simple implementations. In this paper the most popular models have been selected and reviewed using as discriminating factors relevance with regards to orbital aerodynamics applications and theoretical agreement with gas-beam experimental data. More sophisticated models were neglected, since their increased accuracy is generally accompanied by a substantial increase in computation times which is likely to be unsuitable for most space engineering applications. For the sake of clarity, a distinction was introduced between physical and scattering kernel theory based gas-surface interaction models. The physical model category comprises the Hard Cube model, the Soft Cube model and the Washboard model, while the scattering kernel family consists of the Maxwell model, the Nocilla-Hurlbut-Sherman model and the Cercignani-Lampis-Lord model. Limits and assets of each model have been discussed with regards to the context of this paper. Wherever possible, comments have been provided to help the reader to identify possible future challenges for gas-surface interaction science with regards to orbital aerodynamic applications.

The DISCOVERER project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 737183.

Space debris has become a major aspect in the last few years. The vast amount of artificial objects orbiting the Earth is increasing. These objects are a threat for active and future missions. Besides, the possibility of uncontrolled re-entry of some of them reaching the surface of the Earth exists. The aim of this work is to provide a view on how to use additive manufacturing technology to design the next generation of satellites in order to reduce the space debris. The components that can be manufactured with additive manufacturing are identified, together with the technologies that are enabled by additive manufacturing to reduce space debris. Finally, the results of these studies and analysis are incorporated into the design of the structure of a small satellite. This study is being part of the H2020 European Project ReDSHIFT (Project ID 687500).

The aim of this work is to demonstrate the use of additive manufacturing with thermoplastic material in the whole functional structure of spacecraft and to mechanically qualify it for space flight. For such purpose, an 8 U CubeSat structure was manufactured in polyetherimide (PEI) ULTEM™ through 3D printing and passed several vibration tests. The results are compared with those obtained in the qualification of the same structure manufactured in aluminum alloy AA-6082 T651 through a conventional CNC method. The qualification consisted of passing the vibration requirements in quasi-static, sine, and random tests to fly in PSLV launcher. Finally, a robustness test for the 3D-printed structure is included, and all the results are analyzed. This study is being part of the H2020 European Project ReDSHIFT (Project ID 687500).

Conventional Earth Observation Payload Data Ground Segments (PDGS) continuously receive variable requests for data processing and distribution. However, their architecture was conceived to be on the premises of satellite operators and, for instance, has intrinsic limitations to offer variable services. In the current chapter, we introduce cloud computing technology to be considered as an alternative to offer variable services. For that purpose, a cloud infrastructure based on OpenNebula and the PDGS used in the Deimos-2 mission was adapted with the objective of optimizing it using the ENTICE open source middleware. Preliminary results with a realistic satellite recording scenario are presented.

Flying at VLEO has several advantages such as the increase of the resolution of images recorded by optical instruments, the increase of geospatial position accuracy, the improvement of the signal to noise ratio and the reduction of energy consumption by active payloads. However, the drag produced by the interaction of the atmospheric gas particles with the surfaces of the spacecraft requires an extended knowledge of orbital aerodynamics. The aim of this work is to carry out a study from the principles of orbital aerodynamics to the definition of requirements for a set of satellite platforms covering Earth Observation applications taking advantage of operating in Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) and making use of aerodynamic technologies. Four platform concepts were defined: optical coverage platforms, optical Very High Resolution (VHR) for high performance platforms, low cost optical VHR platforms and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) platforms. In addition, the main orbit and attitude control operations to be done with these concepts were analyzed. A relation between the different mission concepts and the performances to be obtained with enhanced aerodynamics was established to identify which of the four platform concepts could perform as a commercial platform to guarantee the use for different applications.

Excel file with the results of the optimization of the Earth Observation Data (EOD) Processing and Distribution pilot case using the ENTICE middleware. The EOD pilot consists of four virtual machines: process4EO, monitor4EO, archive4EO, user4EO. The metrics used to measure the optimization of each virtual machine are the sizes, creation times, delivery times, deployment time. Finally, the percentaje reductions were calculated.