Advantages and capabilities of precursor missions on CubeSats in preparation of commercialization and large-scale missions

Abstract

Large-scale satellite missions, that expand technological capabilities significantly, usually need long development times and high amounts of funding while they balance high reliability and the risk of unproved technologies. Small satellite missions, on the other hand, are limited in their area of application but provide a quick and affordable access to space. Many large-scale missions have very ambitious technical goals resulting in challenges and surprises during the development. These lead to an increased risk, cost and time. Especially the timeline is crucial if missions want to claim a new field. While CubeSats can't replace larger satellites due to the limited performance relating to size (e.g. power generation and dissipation), they can be a tremendous enhancement when they are understood as precursor missions to large-scale and commercialization programs. The precursor can be used to de-risk the main mission and help it meet its development timeline by reducing the scope of the precursor to key challenges that are already understood when the main mission starts. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) successfully demonstrated their in-house developed OSIRIS4CubeSat / CubeLCT, the world's smallest commercial laser communication terminal, on-board a 3U CubeSat to de-risk the parallel industrial application of the terminal via its industrialization partner Tesat Spacecom. The upcoming mission CAPTn-1, a 12U CubeSat, is following the same approach, while incorporating four different technological systems in a single mission that all were developed by DLR: The reliable and high-performance On-Board Computer ScOSA, DLReps, an intelligent satellite battery with an integrated health monitoring, a Generic Software-Defined Radio as well as a smart retroreflector enabling positioning and identification via satellite laser ranging. Currently, CAPTn-2 is under preparation to continue regular in-orbit validation possibilities for DLR technologies. This approach is also demonstrated by the German Space Agency's Small Satellite Initiative project, which will launch six novel subsystems on three CubeSats. Launching miniaturised systems for in-orbit demonstration as a proof of concept and potentially as a minimum viable product has proven to be a driver of innovation. The paper describes DLR's approach to use small satellite pre-cursor missions to de-risk the timeline of large-scale and commercialization missions by solving and demonstrating key technology challenges before the main mission starts based on the successful mission CubeLCT and the upcoming CAPTn-mission.