Exponential Improvements
in SmallSat Technology
Jenny Barna!
Launch Manager, Spire!
jenny@spire.com
Spire’s Beginnings
• Founded in 2012 as Nanosatisfi to launch
cubesats with Arduino educational payloads!
• Headquarters in San Francisco, CA!
• Launched first crowd-funded satellite in 2013!
• Rebranded to Spire in 2014 (Spire Global, Inc)
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Spire Today
• Raised $25M Series A (2014)!
• Opened offices in Singapore, Glasgow!
• Team of 40+ and growing!
• Remote sensing payloads!
• Global AIS ship tracking!
• GPS-RO weather data !
• Ardusat-Spire educational partnership
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Spire’s Launch History
4 satellites launched to date:!
!
• ArduSat-1, ArduSat-X (1U)!
August 2013!
H-IIB/ISS!
!
• ArduSat-2 (2U)!
January 2014!
Antares/ISS!
!
• LEMUR-1 (3U) - operational
June 2014!
Dnepr
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The Technology
The Technology
The platform
• 3U cubesat!
• Designed & manufactured by Spire
• Leverages COTS hardware!
• In-house software development!
!
The constellation!
• 20 satellites in orbit by end of 2015
• 100+ satellites in orbit in 3 years
• Variety of altitudes (500-700 km)
• Variety of inclinations
• Unprecedented coverage, revisit time
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SmallSats:!
Because we’ve come a long way since the 80’s.
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History
Itself Electronics
(Moore’s Law)
Moore’s Repeating
Law - Consumer
1990
Mac IIfx Cost: $10,000!
Weight: 24 pounds!
Memory: 16 MB!
Processor: 40 MHz
7
10x lighter!
10x cheaper!
100x more capable
2015
MacBook Air Cost: $1000!
Weight: < 3 pounds!
Memory: 4 GB!
Processor:1.4 GHz
History
Itself Sensors
(Moore’s Law)
Moore’s Repeating
Law - Spacecraft
1000x !
price/performance
improvement
5g (cubesat shop)
TNO Digital Sun Sensor, 475g
2006
8
2012
CubesatLaw
Technology
Moore’s
- CubesatsShift
Memory
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Power
Bandwidth
Launch
Opportunity
Shift to Space
Easier,
More
Frequent Access
2000
ULA launches costed about an average of $225
Million, and were almost exclusively sold to the US
Government, who does not support commercial
secondaries.
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2015
Spaceflight’s first SHERPA fully booked with
SmallSats. SmallSats, Cubesats share a commercial
launch (~$60M) at a cost on the order of 100s of
thousands each.
15 year on orbit lifetime
Build, Launch
Build, Launch
Build, Launch
Build, Launch
Build, Launch
2020
Build, Launch
NewSpace
SmallSat
Approach
2015
Build, Launch
2010
Build, Launch
2005
Build
Build, Launch
Design
Freeze
Legacy
GEOs
Launch
A Whole New Approach to Design, Build, Launch
2 year on orbit lifetime & refresh
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New Economics of Space
Low Cost to Build & Launch !
Rapid Access to Space, Rapid Refresh
Low Cost enables Higher Risk Tolerance!
Drives Iterative, Aggressive Design Approach (Ok to fail)!
Further Reduces Cost
Unprecedented Access to Data about our Planet!
Commercially Available & Relatively Cheap!
Global and Real-Time Data (Constellations)!
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The Full Picture: It’s not just the technology.
Unprecedented
Access to Space
(Low Cost, High
Frequency)
Private Equity
Interest in Space
Private Equity
Interest
in Big Data
Big Data
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Advances in
Nanotechnology
(Low Cost, Highly Capable)
Constellation Applications & Impact
Weather & Climate
Route Optimization / Emissions
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Security
Commodities Tracking
Agriculture Monitoring
Space Weather
STEM Education - Tomorrow’s Space Industry
• Access to in-orbit satellites for student-run experiments - $150
15
A New Marketplace around Small Satellites
Dedicated NanoLauncher
Companies!
• Rocket Lab!
Secondary
Launch
Integrators!
• Firefly!
• Spaceflight!
• Virgin Galactic!
• Tyvak!
• Mishaal!
• ISIS!
• Generation Orbit!
• TriSept
• ATS!
• S3!
• and more…
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Orbital Debris & Cubesats
• Perception!
• Chaos! Danger! Stop Silicon Valley!
• Reality:!
• Yes, it’s a real issue, but
Cubesats present
substantially less risk than
conventional satellites!
• Orbiting between 400-600 km!
• Very small surface area
lowers probability of collision!
• De-orbit in 1-2 years!
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Summary
!
• Smaller & cheaper does not equal less value!
• “Disposable” does not equal unreliable!
• This is really happening; there’s an entire industry growing around it!
• The envelope will continue to be pushed - see: Silicon Valley, private equity, Mars…!
• An adaptive regulatory environment is necessary - not strict definitions now!
• Unprecedented access to real-time space based data has implications we haven't yet
realized
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!
!
!
!
!
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thanks
th