TITLE:
A Pathway to Small Satellite Market Growth
AUTHORS:
Anders Kose Nervold, Joshua Berk, Jeremy Straub, David Whalen
KEYWORDS:
CubeSat, Small Spacecraft, Educational Economics, Market Growth
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Aerospace Science and Technology,
Vol.1 No.1,
June
27,
2016
ABSTRACT: The United States is experiencing a renaissance in interest in space due to the advent of new lowercost
small spacecraft. New launch entrants, such as Interorbital Systems, promise to lower launch
cost levels. Many developers also benefit from free-to-developer launch services from NASA or the
ESA. Unfortunately, existing commercial off the shelf (COTS) CubeSat hardware is priced based on
amortization of design costs across low-sales volume. A lack of trained staff in any one of the numerous
disciplines required for spacecraft design or other resources required for in-house development
restricts entry into the small satellite industry to those who can afford expensive COTS
hardware or pay for significant design expenses. With entry-level satellite hardware still priced in
the six-figure range, limited market growth is expected even as the average CubeSat launch cost
continues to decline. A new archetype could lower barriers to entry for building small satellites. A
free, public-domain architecture for building a small satellite could allow low-cost, in-house satellite
development. Under this paradigm, the expenses for initiating a small satellite program are
limited to component and launch vehicle costs. The proposed framework allows for broad access
to small satellite hardware, greatly increasing the size of the small satellite developer community.
In the context of the small satellite market, freely offering plans to construct an entry-level satellite
will court new non-traditional actors into building space hardware for launch on commercial
and government small satellite launchers. The low-cost, high flight rate possible with the next
generation of launch systems affords operators the freedom to experiment and innovate in a risktolerant
environment. Successfully demonstrating products and services utilizing low-risk, publicdomain
plans will stimulate demand for mature and more capable flight systems in the retail
marketplace. If technical schools, community colleges, universities, small businesses and even
amateurs can enter into the small satellite ecosystem, at an affordable entrance price, a positive
spiral of increasing demand and decreasing cost may be created over time. A free, public domain
satellite architecture may, thus, open the door to sustained growth and commercial opportunity
for the small satellite industry.