The Flexible LEO Platform for Small Satellite Missions

Spacecraft industry is heavily investing in constellation and new business missions, both requiring cost-efficient satellites. While satellites for large constellations are extremely tailored to a particular mission, like the Airbus Arrow platform used for OneWeb, complementary platforms e.g. for in-orbit verification applications need to be highly adaptable to varying customer requirements, instrumentation, orbits and operational concepts. The “Flexible LEO Platform” FLP2 for short is a spin-off from the Airbus / University of Stuttgart cooperation during the FLP1 program. It targets towards affordable spacecraft offering a large flexibility in scale and platform/payload interfaces. The key advantage of this platform is its consequent modularity in hardware and software making it suitable for a variety of LEO (Low Earth Orbit) mission scenarios. Payload capacities reach from 25 – 100 kg and from 50 to 300 W average Pwr. The platform is multi-payload capable.