Multiple-payload fractionated spacecraft for earth observation

This paper presents a new mission concept and details its system design for Earth observation, utilizing fractionated payloads onboard CubeSats to meet the Sentinel-2 mission specifications at lower costs with enhanced scalability and robustness characteristics. The fractionated spacecraft system consists of twelve CubeSats, each in an eight-unit form factor, which is responsible for taking raw images and sending them to a mothership, while the mothership constructs wide-range images and transmits them to Earth. The pre-Phase-A design of the CubeSats is detailed using available off-the-shelf components with flight heritage. The performance and failure analyses of the proposed fractionated system compared to its Sentinel-2 counterpart, using Monte-Carlo simulations, indicate that the scalability and robustness of the mission can be enhanced while achieving similar specifications. Moreover, the mass and cost analyses show that they can also be reduced notably by fractionating the payload compared to the equivalent Sentinel-2 mission.