An Easy-to-use, Off-the-shelf Spacecraft Architecture for “short-time-to-space” Satellite Missions

Today many industries are realizing that without increasing usability, miniaturization and expanding the customer base to industries other than those which are directly related, profits will be low and the cost for every end-user of such products very high. Computers, electronics, telecommunications and other high-tech industries have already reacted to this trend and introduced their products into everyday life and business. Indeed, without the aid of high tech gadgets like PCs and cell phones, daily life would be hugely inconvenient and business very wasteful. Yet one of the most sophisticated and high-profile industries, the space industry, has never reached a point where it is essential to many other businesses. Although the global telecommunications network would not exist without satellites, as would neither intelligence nor warfare, the customer base for these types of missions is very limited and the cost for these projects astronomical. Many customers today fear going into space-based business because of the high risk involved, and universities avoid using space technologies in their research because of the long development times and the high costs. With this paper we want to show that the current proceedings in space technology together with the right steps taken in the space industry make it possible to bring spatial resources to many researchers and businesses not directly associated with space. We will show that more can be done with less money and development times can be shortened by removing some of the decadesold legacy systems still in place at many government space agencies and large aerospace corporations, that can benefit the remote sensing industry by enabling them to build small satellites easily almost like buying parts for a computer in a store and putting it together.