Satlets - The Building Blocks of Future Satellites - And Which Mold Do You Use ?

A satlet is a satellite architecture component for which the functional capabilities of a traditional spacecraft are decomposed into and can then be aggregated back together to provide desired satellite capabilities. These smaller disaggregated system building blocks, called satlets, when instantiated usually contain portions of one or more subsystem capabilities, or resources. By reassembling a sufficient amount and type of satlets, a satellite with the required capabilities can be formed by aggregation of the resources. Building capabilities by aggregation of resources provides rapid scalability and robustness. However disaggregating a spacecraft leads to several technological concerns which are related to the shared resources within the aggregated satlet network. In regard to these technology implications, two orthogonal decomposition strategies are compared, heterogeneous and homogeneous. Heterogeneous strategies predominantly create multiple satlet types each with portions of dedicated subsystem capabilities, referred to as “subsystem satlets”. Homogeneous strategies predominantly focus on a single satlet type that integrates all required capabilities, referred to as small satellites or “very highly integrated satlets”. Both approaches are discussed via system analysis for shared resources (e.g. thermal control, data handling and power). Notional spacecraft are compared using the two strategies. NovaWurks research, both within and external to the Phoenix program, indicates that while the heterogeneous approach is more traditional and appears to support better SWAP for a given set of resources, there exists increased value in resource capability and economy in the homogeneous approach with a ‘tipping point’ if certain design and development challenges are surmounted.