AVAILABLE TECHNOLOGIES FOR SMALL SATELLITES

This paper presents a survey of low-cost technologies which either hav e been used in the past for small satellite missions, or which are cur rently being used, or which are planned for use in the future. It is r ecognised that such a survey cannot be comprehensive because of the la rge number of missions involved, but the paper does include a represen tative cross-section of missions to illustrate how different countries and groups have tackled the technological problems involved, with the emphasis very much on low-cost techniques. Unusual or innovative tech nologies that have been used on past missions are covered in the paper by summarising the technologies used on the United Kingdom's AMPTE-UK S; Germany's AMPTE-IRM; Sweden's VIKING; and the University of Surrey' s UoSAT series of micro-satellites. Current or recent missions include : Portugal's PoSAT-1 micro-satellite; Germany's BREMSAT; and the UK's STRV-1A and STRV-1B. Future missions summarised in the paper include: South Africa's GREENSAT; Pakinstan's BADR-B micro-satellite; Denmark's ORSTED mini-satellite; Israel's TECHSAT; and the USA's MICROLAB. The paper goes on to suggest areas where technological developments are st ill needed to enable or enhance future missions. (C) 1997 Elsevier Sci ence Ltd.